Harry Potter and the Third World War
by Raptor2216
Summary: The Order lost the Battle of Hogwarts. The world has fallen to Voldemort, and the survivors have fled to Australia. But, they don't intend to stay there. Watch as our favorite HP heroes prepare to lead the Free Forces to retake the world from Voldemort, in what will become the greatest war in human history. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1- Hope Amidst the Storm

**Hello, to all my readers out there.**

 **I thought I would go ahead and start on this story. I came up with the idea a while back. I just wasn't able to publish it at the time. But, now, I really want go get going on it.**

 **Let's get started.**

* * *

Chapter 1- Hope Amidst the Storm

 _In 1997, Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters took over the Magical government of Britain. This heightened a civil war taking place in Magical Britain. This war culminated in the Battle of Hogwarts at the beginning of May, 1998._

 _The Order of the Phoenix led the defense of Hogwarts Castle. Despite their best efforts, the defense ultimately failed, and Harry Potter was presumed killed. When he miraculously returned, he attempted to lead a second defense of the castle. That second defense also failed, and Harry Potter led the survivors in a retreat, ultimately retreating to the United States._

 _Following the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort re-solidified his control over Magical Britain, then expanded his goals and took over the Muggle British government as well._

 _But that was not enough for Voldemort. Expanding his horizons across the Atlantic, he began an effort to conquer the United States._

 _For half a year, the United States fought against Voldemort. But, not being familiar with wizards, and the American Magical Congress not used to working with the U.S. government, they didn't know how to fight back. And eventually, the United States fell, and just like Britain, much of its military became subservient to Voldemort._

 _But not all. Harry led the British and American Magical refugees to Australia, along with a great portion of the U.S. Army, Marines, and Air Force, and a fleet from the U.S. Navy, including two aircraft carriers and the four Iowa class battleships._

 _With the fall of the United States, it became clear that the world was in true danger. Two countries was not enough for Voldemort, and he began sending his forces out to conquer the world._

 _The conflict wore on until late in 2000. At first, the countries of the world tried to resist and drive Voldemort back. Then, realizing they were not going to win without greater preparation, they changed to delaying tactics, trying to slow Voldemort down, while allowing as many civilians and military forces as possible to retreat to Australia, which had become the home of the anti-Voldemort resistance._

 _The conflict wore on until August 31, 2000, when Beijing fell to Voldemort's army. With the fall of Beijing, China, the last country still fighting, lay completely under Voldemort's control, leaving only Australia and New Zealand as the last free lands on Earth._

 _But, the war was not over. Hope still survived, for Harry Potter was still alive. And he was determined to eventually strike back._

* * *

(May 1, 2008, London)

Voldemort stood atop Buckingham Palace, looking out over the city of London. He laughed as he watched the Muggles walk through the streets, guards keeping them under stern observation. He breathed in and relished in his power.

The past 10 years had been nothing but good luck. Almost all of the world had been subjugated and lay under his iron fist. His military, thanks to the Imperious Curse, was now massive.

Of course, his conquest of the world hadn't gone perfectly. Harry Potter was still alive, and had retreated to Australia, along with the Order of Phhoenix and tens of millions of people, both magical and Muggle, from the countries he had conquered that had managed to escape and fled to Australia as well. With their help, Potter had fortified Australia and New Zealand.

Yet, Voldemort was satisfied. Potter had not tried to fight against him since 1999. And since he had finished his conquest of the world in 2000 and the last refugees had fled to Australia, Potter and the people of Australia had not emerged from their isolation.

While he knew he would have to eventually have to take Australia, he was content for now to wait and build up his forces until the time was right.

Voldemort grinned. Nothing could stand in his way.

* * *

(North-Eastern Australia)

In a wide open field in Australia, Harry Potter, dressed in camouflage, stood at the top of a tower behind a barrier of glass. A number of tanks and vehicles were arrayed around the tower.

As Harry watched, an F-16 dropped from the skies into an attack run. He watched calmly as it approached.

Suddenly, a camouflaged F-15 dropped in on the F-16's tail. But, just a few seconds later, a MiG-29 pulled in behind the F-15. For a few seconds, these three planes, each in a slight left bank, flew in a procession towards the tower. Then, then F-15 levelled off and began a slow climb, as the MiG-29 snapped into a hard right turn, indicating to Harry that the MiG had gotten off a successful simulated missile shot. Meanwhile, the F-16 flew past the tower, dropping a cluster bomb as it went, which took out two tanks and a Humvee. But the destruction of the vehicles did not concern Harry, because this was all a training exercise. Harry watched as the F-16 flew away from the tower.

"Sir!" Harry turned to Colonel Stone, who was standing at a control console. "Yes, Colonel?" he asked. "The exercise is wrapping up. The Blue Force if forming up and heading back to base," the Colonel responded. Harry nodded and looked back out at the exercise range. Flights of aircraft were flying over the tower, heading north. He watched as a flight of F-4 Phantoms flew at pretty low altitude over the tower.

"Colonel," Harry called.

"Yes, sir?" the colonel replied.

"I am off for home. Instruct General Eliyahu to inform me of the results once the evaluation has been completed," Harry informed the Colonel.

"Understood, sir," he replied.

Harry left the observation platform and headed down to the base of the tower. An armed guard saluted him as he left the tower, and Harry returned the salute. He then walked over to his personal UH-60 Blackhawk and boarded the chopper.

"Hello, General. Where to?" called Major John White, Harry's personal helicopter pilot, from the cockpit.

"Home, Major," Harry replied.

"Ha. Right where I want to be," Major White replied with a chuckle as he powered up the engine.

"Well, once you get me home, take the rest of the day off," Harry said with a smile.

Major White laughed, then said, "Ok, General."

A few seconds later, after allowing a flight of Su-25s to fly overhead, the Blackhawk lifted off the ground and began flying north.

As he watched the countryside go by, Harry reflected on the last decade. Ever since the retreat to Australia, Harry's resolve to defeat Voldemort had strengthened tenfold, in part due to his new responsibilities. Soon after arriving in Australia, the leaders of the Free Forces (the name for the combined force that had fled to Australia) had, due to him being the Chosen One, has him go through 3.5 years of officer training. Then, 5 years ago, they had promoted him to the new rank of High General and made him Supreme Commander of the all branches of the military of the Free Forces. Not, at just age 28 (almost 29), Harry was an experienced commander and a master strategist.

He was not the only one. Ron had also gone through officer training, and had also been made a High General, and Harry's second in command. Hermione, to Harry and Ron's amusement, had ended up going into the Air Force, and had become a fighter pilot, which was amusing since she had lacked skill on a broom. But, she had grown to be a very competent fighter pilot, starting in F-15s, and was now a Colonel and commanded a squadron of Su-30 Flankers. Many other friends of Harry's now also had positions in the military.

As the Blackhawk continued north, Harry looked off to his right, and caught a view of the Sirius Black Space Center, the main base for the Free Force Space Agency (FFSA). He saw the Space Shuttle Atlantis sitting on the launch pad, ready to launch on its next mission in 36 hours.

One of the Free Froces' greatest resources had come from NASA. Atlantis had been in orbit when Voldemort first attacked America. NASA had ordered Atlantis to land in Australia. With magical help, one of the U.S. Air Force's E-4 aircraft had been converted into a second Shuttle Transportation Aircraft. The two STAs had flown the shuttles Discovery and Columbia to Australia. The shuttle Endeabour had to be left behind. To ensure Voldemort couldn't use it, NASA removed it's engines, sabotaged its systems, then buried the orbiter in a secret underground bunker. All design data for the shuttle, external tanks, and rocket boosters were destroyed, as well as the tanks and boosters themselves.

For months, the three orbiters had stayed earthbound, while maintenance was performed on the orbiters, new tanks and boosters were formed, the Sirius Black Space Center was built, the FFSA was formed, and new crews were gathered and trained. Then, on October 15, 2000, with Harry, most of the Order of the Phoenix, and many of the world leaders from the Council of the Free Forces in the stands watching, the space shuttle Discovery, with a crew of 5 commanded by American astronaut Rick Husband, lifted off the launch pad, embarking on a 5 day mission to deploy a reconnaissance satellite and a communications satellite (the Free Forces had lost access to most satellites after Voldemort took over).

Over the nearly 8 years since then, the FFSA had outdone itself. It was necessary to get dozens of satellites into orbit for when the Free Forces finally emerged from isolation, and that called for a hectic flight schedule. NASA had averaged 5 or 6 flight per years, with each orbiter flying just once or twice a year, usually with at least 6 months between flights.

Now, the FFSA was flying at least one mission a month. Each orbiter was flying a mission at least once every 3 months. Sometimes, there had even been 2 orbiters in space at the same time. Some experts had wondered if the shuttles could withstand such a hectic flight schedule. But, with magical help, the three orbiters were still performing at peak efficiency.

Since October of 2000, the FFSA had flown 98 shuttle missions, deplyong 127 satellties. Discovery had become the workhorse of the fleet, flying 36 of the 98 shuttle flight. Columbia was the second busiest shuttle with 32 flights under its belt, and Atlantis the leats busy with 30 flights. Atlantis' impending mission was going to be one of its most important of all, because it would be deploying a highly important Radar Ocean Reconaissance Satellite (RORSAT), and a weather satellite that would be crucial in developing weather reports for combat situations.

But, the shuttles were finally going to get a break. They had almost finished deploying the necessary satellites. Sol on August 1, Columbia would launch on its 33rd mission for the Free Forces, which would be the 100th shuttle flight flown by the FFSA. The shuttle program would then be shut down for over a year for necessary maintenance before resuming late in 2009, with a far slower flight schedule.

Harry took great pride in the shuttle program. He had in fact gotten to fly on Discovery on its 30th flight, and had spent a week in space. It had been of the greatest experiences of his life.

Several people Harry knew were in the FFSA, including Padma Patil and Professor Sinistra. But, the most surprising was Fleur's sister Gabrielle. When she saw Discovery launch in 2000, she was determined to become an astronaut. Under Harry's orders, she underwnt training when she was old enough. Then, just the month before, after coming off from maternity leave after having her first baby, Gabrielle had flown into space for the first time aboard Discovery. She was scheduled to fly again on COlumbia's flight in August, and was in consideration to command the first flight after operations resumed in late 2009.

"Five more minutes, General!" Major White's call jolted him out of his thoughts. Harry grinned. After a long day of work, it was finally time to come home and be with the family.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, the helicopter slowed to a stop, the lowered to the ground. Once the helicopter touched down, the door slid open, and Harry jumped out.

He stopped and looked around for a minute as the Blackhawk took off again and flew away. The vast grounds were as well kept as ever. And ahead of him rose the familiar structure of the Potter Mansion. Harry had objected to living in a mansion at all, but Tony Blair, the British representative on the Council, had personally intervened and ordered the mansion built anyway. In order to somewhat pacify Harry, part of the mansion was dedicated for us as a military command center.

Harry smiled, then started jogging up the half mile stretch between the helipad and the front doors. Thanks to being in such great shape due to the military's fitness requirements, he made it to the mansion in just over 4 minutes. He walked up to the front doors, saluted the guards, then opened the front doors and marched in.

"I'm home!" he called out as he stood in the entrance hall. A few seconds later, he heard the rapid pitter-patter of tiny feet. Then, his 3 year old son, James, came flying out into the entrance hall as fast as his little legs could carry him, with little 2 year old Albus toddling behind him.

"Daddy!" James cried. Harry smiled broadly and dropped into a crouch, throwing his arms out. James ran straight into them.

"Hey, buddy!" Harry exclaimed as he hugged his son and kissed him on the side of his head. "How was your day?" he asked.

"It was fun! Auntie Luna came over with Lowcan and Lysan!" James said happily.

Harry grinned. Neville and Luna had fallen in love after the Battle of Hogwarts and gotten married in 2001. Just 2 months earlier, in April 2008, they had welcomed a set of twin boys, Lorcan and Lysander. Because James was so young, he could say their names right, so he called them Lowcan and Lysan.

"Daddy!" Harry smiled even brighter as Albus toddled up. He threw out an arm and reeled Albus in too.

"Hey, buddy! Oh, I'm glad to see you too," Harry said as he hugged his sons tightly. Then, he released them and asked with a smile, "Where's your mother?"

"Glad that my husband is home to help me with my crazy children." Harry looked up and beamed at the sight of his beautiful wife standing in the doorway James and Albus had just come through.

Harry stood and quickly made his way to the doorway and wrapped his arms around his wife and planted a kiss on her lips. "I love you," he whispered.

"I know," Ginny whispered back with a smile.

Harry pulled back a little, then asked, "How's the little one?" As he asked, he placed his hand on Ginny's belly, and felt the baby moving within.

"Very active today," she said with a smile.

"Daddy!" Harry turned to James and asked, "What is it James?"

"I going tell Teddy you home," he says cheerfully. Harry smiled. He had taken Teddy in after the retreat to Australia, and has basically raised him. Teddy was now 10 years old.

"Okay, James," Harry said. James looked thrilled and hurried off, with Albus following him as fast as he could.

Harry smiled as he and Ginny stared after them. It was all thanks to Ginny that the last 10 years had been some of the best of his life despite what had happened. During the brief time they had spent in the United States, he and Ginny had rekindled their relationship, and fell deeper in love.

After retreating to Australia, Harry had asked her to marry him on Valentine's Day in 2000. Their wedding took place on September 1, 2000, 9 years to the day they met. They held the wedding aboard the USS Nimitz, one of the two aircraft carriers the Americans had retreated to Australia with. The ceremony took place on the hangar deck, to keep it hidden from cameras, and the reception was held on the flight deck. They had honeymooned in New Zealand.

When Harry started his officer training, Ginny had expressed a desire to join the military too. At first, Harry had been reluctant to let her. Then, after he was made a High General, she finally convinced him to let her. She had started officer training for a short time. But, after 7 months, she got pregnant with James. But, she still held hope she could continue her training after James was born. But, 4 months after James was born, she found out before she was pregnant with Albus. Once Harry found that out, he told Ginny he was never going to let her join the military now that they were going to have 2 kids. Ginny was angry about that, but her anger had vanished once Albus was born. Since then, she had been content to stay at home with the boys, especially when she discovered she was pregnant again.

Harry again placed his hand on her belly. "How did your appointment go today?" he asked.

"Pretty good," she said happily.

"He's still healthy?" Harry asked.

Ginny looked him right in the face. "She is. I've told you a thousand times. I know it's a girl," she says.

Harry grinned. "I'm still sure it's a boy," he says.

"Well, I'm the one carrying this baby. You'd think I would know," she said.

"What about with James and Albus?" Harry said. Ginny put on a pouting face.

Harry grinned. During her pregnancies with James and Albus, she had been sure she was having a girl, and both times Harry had been sure they were boys. So, that has been a recurring arguement during this pregnancy. It hasn't made Ginny happy, especially since only Fleur has sided with her.

"Well, we'll just have to wait until she's born," Ginny said firmly. Harry grinned, but decided to humor her.

The sound of running feet caught their attention. A second later, Teddy came running into the entrance hall, with his best friend Victoire, Bill and Fleur's daughter, following behind him.

"Teddy! Victoire!" Harry exclaimed, giving them both a big hug as they ran up to him.

"Teddy invited me over, Uncle Harry!" 8 year old Victoire exclaimed.

"Did he now?" Harry asked with a smile, looking at Teddy.

Teddy smiles broadly. "Yeah! And we're playing tag!" He then tags Victoire and cries, "You're it!" before racing out of the room. Victoire giggles and chases after him.

Harry and Ginny both laugh as they watch them run off. Then, the door opens behind him. Harry and Ginny both turn around to see Draco Malfoy, in his white admiral's uniform, walking through the front door.

The arrival of Draco Malfor in Australia had come as a surprise to many. In early 2001, an Su-30 fighter had been spotted flying towards Australia from the direction of Indonesia. A flight of Navy F-14s had been scrambled from the USS Enterprise to intercept it. However, the pilot climbed he wanted to defect.

When he landed at an airbase in northern Australia, he was met by guards. But, when the person in the back seat of the Su-30 climbed out, it shocked everyone to see he was Draco. Draco was immediately taken into custody and brought to Sydney. There, he was interrogated.

Draco claimed he had had enough. His heart had been changed by the things he'd been forced to do, and how Voldemort had treated him and his family. He claimed he wanted to try and make up for all he had done.

Harry decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had cleared Malfoy to join the military. Malfoy had revealed he had always liked sailing, so he joined the Navy. He had shown to have a natural gift for naval tactics. He had risen through the ranks, and nearly 3 years ago, had been promoted to Admiral. Then, just a few months earlier, as the preparation for coming out of isolation ramped up, he and an American Admiral named Gary Roughead had been promoted to the wartime rank of Fleet Admiral.

"Hey, Draco. What is it?" Harry asks.

"I got a report today. The New Jersey stripped a main turbine. Its gonna take a month to fix," Draco says. Harry groans.

"But, I have a better report. According to shipbuilding progress, our fleet will at our desired size by next month," Draco says with a smile.

Harry smiles too. "Awesome. And the other branches think they're ready," he says. He looks off at a picture of Hogwarts he has hanged in an adjacent room, then says, "I think we're ready. I think it's time we start getting ready to retake the world."

* * *

 **And, I'll end there. I hope this wasn't too long, and didn't have too much unnecessary details. But, when it comes to the military, I can go into a lot of detail. That's just who I am.**

 **Next chapter will probably be just some more background info, so I don't have to include it in future chapters, and to get it of my mind. Then, we'll continue on into the rest of the story.**

 **Let me know how I started off, and stay tuned.**


	2. Chapter 2-Background info

**Hey, guys. This chapter isn't going to be a normal chapter. It's mainly going to be background info, including the whereabouts of the characters we know from the books, and other background info on other things you'll see a lot in this story, just so you know what is going on. The story itself will continue next chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 2- Background Info

Characters from the books:

Harry- High General & Supreme Commander of the Free Forces militaries  
Ron- High General and Harry's second in command. Master Battle strategist.  
Hermione- Colonel; Su-30 pilot and commander of her squadron.  
Ginny- remains in Australia with her and Harry's kids  
Neville- General, commander of the Free Forces Army's 1st Army  
Luna- remains in Australia with her and Neville's twins, and helping Ginny  
Bill- General, and Free Forces Marine Corps theater commander  
Fleur- remains in Australia with her and Bill's kids  
George- Brigadier General, A-10 pilot and commander of a wing of A-10s  
Angelina- Lieutenant Colonel. Flies a C-17  
Katie Bell- Lieutenant Colonel. Flies a KC-135  
Oliver Wood- General. Commander in the Free Forces Air Force Fighter Command  
Cho Chang- Colonel. Flies an AH-64 in the Free Forces Army Aviation  
Dean Thomas- Colonel. Part of the Echo Force, one of the Free Forces Army's special ops forces  
Seamus Finnigan: Brigadier General. Commander of the 100th Irish Division.  
Ernie Macmillan: Major General in the Army  
Lavender Brown- Colonel. Commander of the 1st Werewolf Battalion, one of two battalions of werewolves that have sided with the Free Forces.  
Kingsley Shacklebolt- Field Marshall. One of the top commanders in the Army. Highly efficient leader.  
Gawain Robards- General. Commander of the Army's 4th Army.  
Dennis Creevey- Commodore (equivalent to U.S. 1 star rear admiral. 2 star rear admiral is eqvuivalent to FF rear admiral). Part of the staff for the commander of the FF Navy's submarine forces.  
Draco Malfoy- Fleet Admiral. One of the top commanders of the Navy. Well learned in naval combat tactics.  
Viktor Krum- Colonel. Rafale pilot and squadron commander in the Air Force.  
Gabrielle Delacour- Space Shuttle Astronaut  
Parvarti Patil- Captain in the FF Navy. Commanding officer of the submarine FFS London.  
Padma Patil- Member of the board of directors for the Free Force Space Agency  
Anthony Goldstein- Lieutenant colonel. Army intelligence officer.  
Hannah Abbot- stays in Australia with her kids. Ginny's midwife.  
Susan Bones- Major. Radar operator on an E-3 Sentry.  
Various Hogwarts Professors- Advisors.  
Professor McGonagall- Chief Magical Advisor to the Security Council of the Free Forces.

* * *

You'll also see real life people in this story. Two examples were in the first chapter. Rick Husband, a former American astronaut who was the commander of the space shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated, who is now a member of the FFSA. And General Eliyahu, who is Eitan Ben Eliyahu, a former Israeli Air Force General, who is now a high ranking commander of the Air Force.

* * *

Also, in this story, battalions, regiments, or divisions will be composed of soldiers from a single country, and be known by which country. For example, the 100th Irish Division, or the 73rd American Regiment.

* * *

New ship classes built by the Free Forces: classified by FFS instead of USS or HMS  
Aircraft carriers:  
-FFS Argus (biggest aircraft carrier ever built)  
-Independence class (basically an improved version of the Nimitz class), ships in the class at this point: FFS Independence, FFS Illustrious, FFS Australia, FFS Albus Dumbledore, FFS Furious, with FFS Freedom and FFS Challenger soon to join the fleet  
-Victorious class (a more heavily armored version of the Independence class), ships in the class: FFS Victorious and FFS Invincible

Battleships (built to provide support for amphibious operations, and to withstand any attacks by Voldemort)  
-FFS Gryffindor- (biggest and most powerful battleship ever built, surpassing even the Yamato)  
-Dauntless class (more powerful version of the Iowa, with 10 main guns instead of 9, and fewer missiles), ships in class: FFS Dauntless, FFS Prince of Wales, FFS Bismark  
-Warspite class (different version of the Dauntless class, with slightly less armor, higher speed, and more missiles, but same number of main guns) ships in class: FFS Warspite, FFS Arizona, FFS Vengeance, FFS Dragon, with FFS Liberty soon to be completed

Battlecruisers (built as to provide support for amphibious assaults, and as heavily armed and armored ship and convoy hunters)  
-Hood class (very similar design to the Warspite class, but with only 8 main guns) ships in class: FFS Hood and FFS Neptune  
-Repulse class (slightly smaller and faster version of the Hood class, with 15 inch guns instead of 16 inch guns) ships in class: FFS Repulse, FFS James Potter, FFS Queen Elizabeth, FFS Avenger

Fast attack carriers (smaller aircraft carriers with a very high top speed and low radar signature, designed to dash in, launch airstrikes, and ash back out before getting attacked)  
-Lion class - ships in class: FFS Lion, FFS Ark Royal, FFS Sirius Black, and one more nearing completion, the FFS Marauder

Anti-aircraft cruisers (large cruisers dedicated to providing anti-air coverage for the fleet, with massive numbers of Surface to air missiles)  
-Osprey class - ships in class: FFS Osprey, FFS Falcon, FFS Eagle, FFS Phoenix, FFS Vulture, FFS Raptor, FFS Griffin, FFS Thestral, with one more nearing completion, the FFS Hornet.

Other ships:  
\- Trafalgar class guided missile cruisers (similar in design to the Ticonderoga class cruisers, slightly bigger and more heavily armed, 22 of them, all named for famous battle)  
\- Winston Churchill class guided missile destroyers (similar in design to the Arleigh Burke class destroyers, slightly bigger and more heavily armed, 58 of them, all named for famous war figures)  
\- Merlin class destroyers (similar in design to the Zumwalt class destroyers, but equipped with a rail gun, and similar missile load to the Arleigh Burke class, 37 of them, all named for famous wizards and witches, and wizards and witches that are members of the anti-voldemort resistance)  
-Fred Weasley class guided missile frigates (similar in design to the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, 58 of them, all named for wizards and witches and notable Muggles killed in the war against Voldemort)  
-London class nuclear attack submarines (pretty much the same as the modern Virginia class, 73 of them, all named for cities)  
-Basilisk class guided missile submarines (almost exactly like the 4 Ohio class guided missile subs, 10 of them, all named for magical creatures)

* * *

The Free Forces Air Force is comprised of aircraft of all kinds from all over the world.

* * *

 **I'll end the background info there. I'll include more as needed in chapters to further explain things. I know this may have been boring, but I thought it would help you all keep up with stuff later on.**

 **I'll be including modern day veterans/active duty personnel that I know of through documentaries or books on recent conflicts. I may also include some actors/celebrities known for either serving in the military or playing roles in military movies. Give me ideas you want to see.**

 **I got a review about this, so I'll address this now. I'll try and keep sappy stuff out of the story, and focus on the action. There may be one or two sappy scenes, but they will be far and few between. The only one I'm planning on is Harry saying goodbye to his family before he leaves for war.**

 **I'll end there. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Hopefully, the war itself will start in a few chapters.**


	3. Chapter 3- The Vote

**Alright, after that brief chapter of background info, we're back to the main story. I'll take the next two or three chapters to set up the war, then we'll get into the good part of the story.**

 **Also, just to put something out there. In my vision, the refugees from each country still sort of maintain their sense of autonomy, and each country's government still has primary control over refugees from their country.**

 **Let's get to the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 3- The Vote

Harry walks towards the front door, calling out, "Alright, honey! I'm off for the meeting with the Chiefs and the Security Council in Brisbane. I'll be back by this evening."

"Okay. Have a good day, honey!" Ginny's call comes to him from somewhere in the mansion. Harry smiles before walking outside.

He jogs the short distance down to the helipad, where Major White is waiting in the Blackhawk. Harry hops in and says, "Good morning Major. I assume you know where to take me."

"Of course, General. Settle in," he calls from the cockpit. The Blackhawk then slowly lifts off the ground.

Harry settles in for the brief 30 minute to a nearby airfield. The airfield is usually used for auxiliary flights and drone training. But, when the chopper lands, Harry leaps out and walks across the tarmac, to where a former US Air Force C-38 Courier VIP transport sits waiting for him.

Harry walks up the boarding ladder, first saluting the Air Force guard waiting at the base. Once he climbs in, he leans into the cockpit, where a pair of Air Force Lieutenant Colonels sit at the controls.

"Hello, General. Ready to go?" one of them asks.

"Indeed. How long to Brisbane?" Harry asks the pilots.

"About 45 minutes, sir," the co-pilot responds.

Harry nods, then heads back into the passenger section. He sits down in one of the seats and begins going over his notes.

Within minutes, the C-38 begins taxiing, and is soon in the air. It climbs to cruising altitude and turns south for the journey to Brisbane.

Just as the copilot said, 45 minutes after takeoff, the C-38 is landing in Brisbane. When Harry comes down the stairs, he finds a pair of Air Force guards waiting for him.

"General," one of them says curtly as they both salute him. Harry returns the salute and says, "At ease."

They lower their hands, and one of them says, "If you'll follow us, General. Your ride is waiting for you." Harry nods and follows the guards to the VIP terminal, where a Humvee stands waiting for Harry.

Harry boards the Humvee, which immediately takes off through the streets of Brisbane. It's a short ride to one of the main headquarters of the Free Forces Security Council.

When he reaches the building, Harry jumps out of the Humvee. He slowly walks into the building and heads towards the main office of the Chiefs of Staff.

As he enters the office, he sees Draco and Fleet Admiral Roughead sitting around a table, as well as Air Marshall Glenn Torpy, the British general who was the Air Force Chief of Staff, and General Alexei Maslov, the Russian general that was the Army Chief of Staff.

As Harry entered the room, all of them stood and saluted him. "General Potter," General Maslov said in his accent that showed no signs of deteriorating away from Russian.

"My comrades," Harry says, returning the salute. He then looks around and asks, "Where's General Conway?" James T. Conway was the American General who was the Marine Corps Chief of Staff.

"He will be here soon, along with High General Weasley," Marshall Torpy responds. Harry nods in response, then takes his seat around the table.

A minute later, the door opens, and both Ron and General Conway enter the room.

"Hello. Welcome," Harry says.

"Hey, mate. How's it going? How's Ginny and the baby?" Ron asks Harry.

"Good. But that's not why we're here," Harry says seriously.

Ron nods and takes his seat with the rest of the Joint Chiefs. They all look around at each other before Harry says, "Alright. Let's get down to business. Each of you can present your individual reports."

General Maslov speaks first. "General Potter, our army is at the best it's ever been. It already numbers at roughly 10 million soldiers. Our industrial sector has easily our quota for producing weapons, ammunition, and vehicles," he says. He pauses briefly before he says, "We recently ran a combat exercise in the Australian outback, numbering nearly 2 million personnel. The exercise was meant to simulate capturing a fortified city, with a city we built specifically for this exercise. The exercise was a resounding success, with a lower simulated casualty count than we expected."

Harry nods, then turns to General Conway. "General Conway, what is the status of the Marine Corps?"

"Our preparedness level as the highest it's ever been. Our forces currently number just over 4 million soldiers, in addition to all auxiliary and support personnel. Our boys have training relentlessly the last 6 months for amphibious invasions. Our most recent invasion exercise took place on Townshend Island. Our boys took the beach in record time, with minimal casualties. Our pilots have also been training constantly to work with our boys just as much as conducting normal air strikes. Our pilots are second to none in providing close air support and supporting air strikes for amphibious invasions. They're done training, and ready for action," General Conway states.

"Good. They'll be the spearhead when the time comes. It's good they're so ready," Harry says, before turning to Marshall Torpy. "Air Marshall, what is the Air Force preparedness level?"

"In all areas, we are prepared. I spoke with our generals. Our numbers of combat aircraft currently stands at 9,157 fighters, counting air superiority, mulltirole, and dedicated ground attack, 40 AC-130 gunships, and 322 strategic bombers. That's not counting the vast number of various support aircraft we have. And our aircraft manufacturing industry is accelerating. Projectionists are predicting production of an additional 1,000 combat aircraft by the end of the year."

"Our most recent running of our Red Flag combat exercise we ran last week went better than our analysts predicted. The Blue Force destroyed every single target, while dealing massive losses to the Red Force, while suffering minimal casualties themselves. Our pilots are more ready than they have ever been. They're getting tired of just sitting here in Australia. We also have a report that the Atlantis' mission is going according to plan, and all preparations are on track for Columbia's upcoming launch," Torpy responds.

Harry nods, then turns to Roughead and Malfoy. "What is the status of the fleet?" he asks.

"Our shipbuilding has multiplied the fleet into a true fighting machine. Including vessels brought here from other nations, the fleet currently numbers 335 combat ships, as well as tankers, ammunition ships, and other auxiliary ships. Our shipyards are saying that there will another 20 ships completed by the end of next month, including two Independence class carriers, a Warspite class battleship, a Lion class fast attack carrier, and an Osprey class cruiser. The last of the Iowa class battleships is completing its refit, and the New jersey's turbine replacement will be finished within the month," Fleet Admiral Roughead says.

"We recently ran our naval combat exercise NIFTY DOLPHIN. Our men performed even better than expected, particularly our capital ships and carrier air wings. We ran a brief additional exercise in support of the Marine invasion exercise, and performed extremely well," Malfoy says.

Harry nods, then looks around at the men seated at this table. "Well, I don't know about you, but I think we're ready. What do you think?" He's met by smiles and a chorus of "Yes"s from the men at the table.

Harry smiles, then stands, his notes under his arm. "Very well. I'll brief the Security Council, and I'll get back to you soon," Harry says as he leaves the room.

(30 minutes later, the Security Council room)

"And, according to our defense estimates, that is our readiness level," Harry says.

At the massive table before him the members of Security Council sit, having listened to him present the report about the military's readiness level.

The Security Council was the branch of Free Forces leadership dedicated to overseeing the military. It was much larger than the UN security council, with representatives drawn from the refugees from major economic and military powers, whether worldwide powers or just local powers in their area of the world. The council was currently made up of representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, Italy, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, and Indonesia.

"Thank you, General Potter," says John McCain, the US representative on the Security Council. He turns to his colleagues and asks, "I think we have heard enough. Are we ready to vote?" He is answered by a nod from all the other representatives.

"Very well," McCain says, before beginning the vote.

(7 PM, Potter Mansion)

Harry opens the door and walks inside. Ginny quickly comes out of one of the adjoining rooms with a smile. But, seeing the look on Harry's face, her smile quickly is replaced by a serious look.

"What happened today?" she asks.

"I had each of the Chiefs give me their report on each branch's readiness. Then, I briefed the Security Council, and they conducted a vote on what to do," Harry says. He pauses, then adds, "The vote was unanimous."

"In favor of what?" Ginny asks.

Harry looks right at her. For a second, he's quiet. Then, he gives a simple answer.

"War."

* * *

 **I think that's a decent place to stop.**

 **So, the Free Forces have officially decided. They are going to war. I think I'll do one or two, maybe three, brief chapters on them planning and preparing for war, then Harry will lead the initial force out of isolation to war against Voldemort.**

 **For those wondering, all of the Chiefs are real people. General Conway was the Commandant of the Marine Corps in 2008 in real life, and Admiral Roughead was the Navy Chief of Staff in 2008 in real life. Marshall Torpy was the head of the Royal Air Force in 2008, and General Maslov was the Commander in chief of the Russian Army in 2008. As for John McCain, well, I was thinking who would be a good US representative on the Security Council, and he came to mind. So, yeah.  
**

 **Keep those reviews coming and let me know how I'm doing. And let me know what you think the Free Forces first major move is going to be.**


	4. Chapter 4- Planning

**I'm back with another chapter.**

 **This chapter will see the formulation of the plan for the first phase of the war, and we'll see a few more HP characters we haven't seen yet.**

 **Alright. Let's get to it.**

* * *

Chapter 4- Planning

(May 15, 2008)

Harry jolts awake on hearing his alarm. He looks around him, and sees Ginny snuggled as close to him as she can.

"Hmm. Five more minutes," she groans, still half-asleep.

"You can, baby. But I need to go," Harry says. She groans and tries to snuggle closer to him, but Harry gently extricates himself, trying not to wake her.

Once free of her grip, Harry heads off to shower and get dressed. He decides to go with his Marine Corps officers' uniform, since most of the interaction he has today will be with the Marine Corps.

After getting dressed, he heads downstairs to get a bite to eat, then heads out. Major White is waiting for him with the Blackhawk at the helipad.

"Hello, Major. Hope you had a good night," Harry says as he settles in.

"Indeed, I did, General," Major White replies as he revs up the engine and lifts the Blackhawk into the air.

It's a short flight to the airstrip. This time, a larger C-32 VIP transport is waiting to shuttle Harry down to Sydney.

Harry is escorted over to aircraft, a modified version of the Boeing 757, and boards. The aircraft is just finishing fuelling, and is in the air in 20 minutes.

It's several hours before the C-32 lands at the busy Sydney Airport, which now just handles flights around Australia and New Zealand, and military transport flights.

Once the jet is parked on the tarmac, Harry disembarks and boards an airport pickup truck, which ferries him to where a limo is waiting for him at a gate leading out of the airport.

Ron is waiting for him in the limo, having arrived in Sydney 30 minutes earlier. "Hey, mate," Ron greets Harry as he enters the limo.

"Hey, Ron. You ready for today?" Harry asks his friend.

"Oh, yeah. I can't wait to finally get to set in stone our plan. This speculation has been too much for me. I want to know we have specific strategy," Ron says, his strategist side showing. Harry grins as the limo heads off for the New Pentagon, a copy of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. that sits in downtown Sydney and serves as the headquarters of the military.

It's a short journey there. When they reach the New Pentagon, they pull into a parking lot under the building reserved for high-ranking officers. From the parking lot they take an elevator up to the 5th floor before walking around the building to the Marine Corps wing.

Harry finds General Conway's office and enters. A large conference table has been set up. Sitting around it are General Conway, Draco, Bill Weasley, General Eitan Ben Eliyahu from the Air Force fighter command, and a Japanese Marine general, General Kiyono Nagano.

"High Generals," General Conway, rising from his seat and saluting.

Harry and Ron both return the salute, and Harry says, "At ease, General. Have a seat." Conway sits, and Ron and Harry both take their seats.

"Now, we all know why we're here. The Security Council has officially voted in favor of war. I believe we have all considered strategies for what to do in the event of such a vote. But now, this is real, and the Council is expecting us to prepare enough to be able to begin waging war by August. We need to have a plan," Harry says.

"The fleet is ready and fully equipped to be able to escort an amphibious landing force and support a landing operation," Draco says.

"Very good. But, that is the least of our issues. It's agreed our first main objective will have to be the liberation of Asia. We need to decide something else first. Our target. The first country we'll liberate. Our main base to begin the liberation of Asia," Harry says.

"I believe I know the perfect objective," General Nagano says. Everyone looks at him. He grins slightly and says, "My homeland."

"Japan?" Ron asks for clarification.

General Nagano nods. "According to intelligence reports I have read gathered from information from our recon satellites and agents on the ground in Japan, Japan has fewer men defending it than other island nations, such as the Philippines or Indonesia, yet has many military installations left behind by my government as well as the Americans. If we can capture my homeland, it will give our fleet access to several forward bases in the northern Pacific, and many air bases within easy range of such places as Korea, Russia, China, and Southeast Asia," he says.

Ron nods. "Yes. Japan is in the perfect strategic position. But, one problem. There's an entire ocean, filled with multiple island nations inhabited by Voldemort's forces. Plus, if the Air Force is going to participate, Australia is too far from Japan for our aircraft to get there," he says.

"Yes," General Conway says slowly, "We can't take Japan with the islands of the Pacific in our way. So we don't."

"What do you mean?" Harry asks.

"It's impossible to transverse the entire Pacific and attack Japan without being spotted and have the Air Force's help. Not unless we take a few islands first. We may be able to get around the Solomons, but we can't get through Micronesia," Conway says, then pauses, "If we take Guam, that'll give us access to a strategically valuable base with a massive air base we can operate our bombers and tankers out of."

"Guam. I see. Yes, that would be the perfect base," Ron says.

"But, it would still be wisest to capture a second base on the road to Japan," General Eliyahu inputs.

"Indeed. So we take Iwo Jima," says Conway.

Harry looks at Conway in slight confusion. "What?" he asks.

"Iwo Jima lies between Guam and Japan. It's far enough away from Japan that they won't spot us, yet close enough for our long range fighters to stage out of. Its airfield is already large enough to house several wings. If we build one or two more airfields quickly, we can stage the entire fighter force for an opening airstrike on Japan out of Iwo Jima, and reserve Guam for the bombers and tanker, and those fighters capable of flying such long distances. I doubt Voldemort will have too many guards there, so it should be easy to capture, unlike in World War II," Conway explains.

"I see," Harry says thoughtfully.

"If we are able to capture Guam and Iwo Jima, it should enable us to plot a course through the Pacific that should enable us to reach Japan with the lowest chance of being spotted," Conway says.

"And if we can amass a sufficient invasion fleet and army to land on Japan, this plan should succeed," General Nagano says.

"Well, if we have a basic plan to get to Japan, that takes care of part of the problem. But how would we go about such an invasion?" Harry asks.

"I believe it would be best to invade Honshu first. It has the greatest significance, and the most important military bases. Not only that, but an early capture of Tokyo would likely greatly demoralize our enemy," General Nagano says. He pauses for a moment, then says, "I believe a good spot for us for begin an invasion would be the peninsula of Yokosuka. It is close to the Yokosuka Naval Base, which would give our fleet a very good base very quickly. And, if we could capture the port at Tokyo quickly, that would quickly give us two ports to ship men and supplies into."

Harry thinks over this, analyzing what he knows of Japan and the Tokyo area, and their military needs. Finally, he says, "I see your point. Japan was one of two countries I was considering for an initial conquest, along with the Philippines. But, I can see that Japan would much better serve our purpose."

He turns to General Conway and Draco. "Is this something we can pull off?" he asks.

Draco thinks for a second. "Yes. It's possible. We'd need a bare minimum of 4 carriers to provide air support. Knowing the defenses our troops would likely encounter, I'd also estimate we'd need at least 5 capital ships to provide gunfire support for the landings."

General Conway then speaks up. "I've read over intelligence reports of the defenses on Guam and Iwo Jima. Reports indicate at least a full division on Guam, and less than a regiment on Iwo Jima. We could easily capture both islands, but prior to doing so, we would need to destroy their ability to communicate with outside world before they knew of our presence, or we would lose the element of surprise. The best way I can think of doing that is by a cruise missile strike from a Basilisk class submarine to take out their communications network, then precede to land our troops on the islands. As for the force we would need to even attempt a landing on Japan, we would need at least 20 divisions for the initial landing."

"Can we get our fleet to Japan without being noticed?" Harry asks.

"Yes, if we play it carefully. The main hurdle will be getting out into the central Pacific. I think the best option is to attempt to get through the passage between the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Getting through Micronesia will be harder, but if we try and go by major inhabited islands at night, with the lights on our ships off, we can do it. Once we capture Guam, and get out of Micronesia, getting to Iwo Jima, and then to Japan, should be easy. Our comrades in the FFSA have been analyzing the orbits of the RORSATs that Voldemort has access to, and we should be able to plot courses that help us escape their notice until we can reach Japan. Plus, I doubt Voldemort pays too much attention to them. As far as we know, he doesn't think we have a Navy anywhere near as big as we do," Draco says.

"And, if necessary, we have the ability to kill his RORSATs with the killer satellites we have in orbit," General Eliyahu says.

Harry nods. "I see. Well, sounds like a plan to me. Bill, I want you in charge of the invasion of Japan. Draco, I want you to get to work on organizing the fleet for the operation," he says.

Harry pauses for a moment, then says, "It will take at least 2 months of training to prepare for this operation. I say we begin training immediately, after picking the units for the operation, and set the date for the fleet to depart Australia for August 1. I think a good date for the landings on Japan itself would be September 1."

A round of nods follows Harry's statement. General Conway pipes up and says, "Our boys would probably need even less than 2 months to be ready. But it is a good idea to leave us plenty of time to organize the logistics."

Harry nods, then says, "Alright. I'll brief the Security Council this evening. In the meantime, I want you all to get to work on planning and preparing for this operation. I cannot overstate the importance of this. If we fail, our efforts to begin taking back the world will be set back by at least a year, possibly more. But, if we succeed, we will take a vitally important base for launching the liberation of Asia, and give ourselves a great advantage going forward."

"This is a battle we cannot afford to lose."

* * *

 **I'll end there.**

 **I hope this wasn't too boring, but I felt it necessary to set up what's gonna happen in future chapters.**

 **For those wondering, I didn't have some symbolism in choosing Japan as the first main target, and Guam and Iwo Jima as the stepping stones. I already had decided on Japan due to its strategic position and military importance, and decided later to include Guam and Iwo Jima as stepping stones to taking Japan.**

 **Next chapter should be the final build up, and then the chapter after will feature the start of the war. Next chapter should be up within the week. Until then, keep those reviews coming.**


	5. Chapter 5- Hiding No More

**Hey! I'm back.**

 **I originally was going to have another chapter between the last one and this one. But, as I started it, I realized I had no idea what to do with the chapter, so I decided to cut it completely, and just make this the next chapter.**

 **It will start off with a brief recap of what's happened this chapter and the last, then get into the main body of the chapter.**

 **Well, this is it. The beginning of the war. Let's get going.**

* * *

Chapter 5- Hiding No More

 _Following the decision to invade Japan first, with Guam and Iwo Jima as stepping stones, the Free Forces' war machine truly began to gear up. Training was ramped up, and the chosen units for the initial landings were in a state of near constant preparation in some form. Factories were producing aircraft and weapons faster than ever, and shipyards had turned out dozens of warships and transports, including two new supercarriers and a battleship._

 _By the end of July, units were ready, and Barry was prepared. Ginny was nearing her due date, and was very upset at Harry having to leave. But she knew, as did everyone, that the time had come, and Harry and the men of the military had to perform their duty._

 _Now, right at at the end of July, the time has come._

* * *

Harry finishes tying his tie, then fixes his ribbons. He looks in the mirror, looking to see if there's anything he needs to fix.

Harry has multiple uniforms from all the branches. He is now in his white naval officer's uniform. He looks down at the 6 stars on his shoulder.

He looks back in the mirror. This is it. After all these years, it's finally time.

Harry adjusts his tie. Then, he turns and grabs his briefcase from off his bed, tucks his officer's hat under his arm, and leaves the bedroom, heading down toward the front door.

As he comes into the entrance hall. Standing by the door is his goodbye party. Ginny. Luna. Fleur. James. Albus. And Teddy.

Harry smiles as he walks over. He stops a few feet from them, sets down his briefcase and hat, then walks over to them.

He kneels down in front of Teddy first. He looks Teddy in the eyes and says, "While I'm gone, you're gonna have to be the man of the house. Can you do that for me?"

Teddy nods, saying, "Yes. I can do it. I'll make you proud."

Harry smiles at Teddy brightly. "I know you will," he says.

He then scoots over to his two sons. He puts a hand on each one's shoulder. He looks them each in the eyes, then says, "I'm not gonna be home for a long time, boys. I need you to be good boys. I need you to help your mom, especially with the new baby. You be the best boys you can be."

For the first time in a long time, neither James nor Albus is smiling. They both nod, then throw their arms around Harry. He chuckles a little bit, a tear coming to his eye, as he hugs them back.

Once they let go of him, he smiles at them, then stands and turns to Luna. He looks her in the eyes and asks, "You're gonna be okay watching out for your twins and helping Ginny?"

Luna nods affirmatively. "I'll be fine. You go out there and beat Voldemort," she says. Harry smiles and gives her a hug, which she happily returns.

After pulling away from Luna, Harry turns to Fleur. Fleur is smiling a sad smile, and quickly hugs him.

Harry embraces Fleur back. After a moment, she whispers to him, "I will look after Ginny and the children for you the best I can. You can count on me."

"I know I can," Harry replies, making Fleur shed a few tears.

He soon lets go of Fleur, and turns to Ginny. He can't even say anything before she bursts into tears and flies at him, hugging him as tightly as her bulging belly allows.

For a minute, the two just stand there, holding each other as Ginny cries. Finally, they pull back, Ginny still with her arms behind Harry's head, and Harry resting his hands on her hips.

"Do you really have to go?" she asks.

Harry smiles a bit. "Yes. I do. I need to go, so we can finally rid the world of Voldemort, to make a world that is safe for our children to grow up in."

Ginny sheds a few more years and asks tearfully, "Oh, why do you have to be so noble?"

Harry laughs. "I thought that was one of the reasons you fell in love with me."

Ginny laughs a bit herself. "I guess you're right. But it can get annoying sometimes," she says.

Harry smiles before moving his hands to her cheeks. He looks her right in the eyes before saying softly, "I promise you. I am going to come back to you. And I will make sure that this world will become a world safe for you and our children."

He pauses for a moment, then leans in and kisses her. She kisses him back with more passion than she has since their wedding.

When they finally break apart, tears are running down Ginny's cheeks even more than before. Harry smiles and says, "I love you."

Ginny sobs and says, "Oh, I love you, too, Harry." Harry smiles back at her before giving her a quick kiss.

He then pulls away from her, even though it hurts his heart, and picks up his briefcase and hat. He then turns back to his family, smiles, then says, "I'll see you later." He then walks to the front door and opens it. Before walking out, he stops, turns around, and waves. He then turns and walks out, closing the door behind him.

Seeing the door close, Ginny really starts to cry. Fleur puts an arm around her and leads her into another room to sit down.

Harry pauses briefly on the porch. He then turns back to the door before he says, "I will be back." He then turns and starts towards the helipad.

Not wanting to run in his uniform, it takes him about 10 minutes to reach the helipad. As he reaches the helipad, he finds his personal Blackhawk already spinning it's rotors.

Harry climbs into the helicopter. This time, Major White doesn't say anything. He just lifts the Blackhawk off the ground and starts flying at top speed towards the airfield.

When the Blackhawk lands at the airfield, Harry quickly hops out. A pair of Air Force guards escort him across the tarmac to where a Tu-160 Blackjack and 2 F-15 Eagles sit with their engines on.

Harry is hurried aboard the Blackjack. A technician places his hat and briefcase in a compartment in the rear of cabin, while another helps Harry strap into the bombardiers seat and put on his helmet and oxygen mask.

Once the ground crew leave the aircraft and the door closes, the pilot of the bomber, a Lieutenant Colonel from Russia named Ivan Yoslov, calls back, "Are you ready, General?"

"Yes," Harry says simply.

"Alright. Here we go," Yoslov responds. Moments later, Harry hears the low whine of the engines increase to a scream, and he feels the Tu-160 start to move.

Out of the front window, Harry can see the F-15s taxiing ahead of them. They soon disappear as they turn onto the runway.

A minute later, the Blackjack turns onto the runway, and Lieutenant Colonel Yoslov opens the throttle. The massive bomber shoots down the runway, and soon rises into the air.

Yoslov climbs quickly to 15,000 feet before forming up with the F-15s. The three aircraft then turn south and race towards Sydney.

About an hour and a half later, the Tu-160 lands at Sydney Naval Air Station. Harry is quickly escorted off the bomber and to a limo, with two Humvees escorting it, which quickly departs the base.

It's a quick drive to the Sydney Naval Base. The Sydney Naval Base is the Free Forces Navy's largest naval base, and the headquarters of the fleet. Harry looks at the many administrative buildings that line the main street he's driving down.

Then, the space opens up, and his driver makes a turn to the right, exposing to view the docks, and the dozens of ships tied to those docks.

The driver makes his way to the end of the row of docks, to where a group of covered docks lie. The limo drives to the last dock in the group, and comes to a stop.

Harry climbs out of the limo, dons his hat, grips the handle of his briefcase, and walks towards the dock. A company of Marines part to form an aisle leading to the door to the dock, all snapping to attention and saluting him. He returns the salute as he walks into the dock.

Once inside the dock, Harry stops for a moment, and stares at the ship inhabiting the dock. His flagship. The battleship _FFS Gryffindor._

He smiles a bit as he looks her up and down. The _Gryffindor_ is one of the most powerful warships ever built. She is a whole 54 feet longer than the battleship _Yamato_ , the 2nd biggest battleship of all time. She has 18.1 inch guns like the _Yamato_ , but with a 3 mile greater range. She is also equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, Harpoon anti ship missiles, Sea Sparrow surface to air missiles, and Vulcan CIWS gun systems, and the most advanced technology available to the fleet. Her armor is even thicker than the _Yamato_ 's, but her two nuclear reactors and magically boosted engines can boost her to a top speed of 37 knots. She is the pride of the Navy, and is considered one of the major symbols of the Free Forces' military power.

Harry makes his way to the gangway and boards the battleship. He takes his briefcase to his quarters before making his way to bridge.

Waiting for him on the bridge is Commodore Alexander Smith, an American, and the _Gryffindor_ 's captain. _Gryffindor_ is one of the few ships in the fleet deemed important enough to have a Commodore as their commanding officer.

"High General's on the bridge!" the Commodore calls. Everyone on the bridge snaps to attention.

"At ease," Harry calls, and everyone returns to what they were doing.

"Evening, Commodore," Harry greets.

"Good evening, General," Commodore Smith responds.

"What's the status of the ship?" Harry asks.

"All ordnance has been loaded, and the crew is aboard. The ship's reactors are working up, and will soon be at full power. We'll be all set to sail at midnight like planned," Commodore Smith responds.

"Very good," Harry responds. He then pauses for a second before moving to the radio station and telling the controller, "Contact the _Argus_. I need to speak to Admiral Malfoy."

The _FFS Argus_ was the flagship of the entire Navy, and the biggest aircraft carrier ever built. She was named for the first aircraft carrier ever built. She was almost a hundred feet longer than the Nimitz class, and could carry the biggest air wing of any carrier. She was also referred to as a command carrier, because her CIC was several times larger than the CIC on any other carrier in the world, which could connect to the military command structure, and every other ship in the fleet, as well as military units across the world. A leader aboard the _Argus_ could connect to and control the entire Navy from the CIC, and coordinate with the rest of the military. She was designed to be a mobile version of fleet headquarters, as well as an emergency command post for the entire military in the event of an emergency. And, at the moment, she is Draco's flagship.

The radio operator hurries to connect. " _FFS Gryffindor_ calling _FFS Argus_. Come in, _Argus._ "

A moment later, someone responds over the radio, " _Argus_ here."

Harry leans in. "This is High General Potter. I need to speak with Fleet Admiral Malfoy."

"Understood. Just a moment," comes the reply, followed by several moments of silence.

Then, Harry hears Draco's voice come over the radio. "This is Admiral Malfoy. What is it, Potter?"

"What's the status of the fleet?" Harry asks.

"Most ships are fully ready to sail. The rest will be ready half an hour prior to scheduled departure time," Malfoy replies.

"Understood. Proceed as planned," Harry says, then turns and leaves the bridge.

For the next hour and a half, he makes his rounds around the ship. It's been too long since he's been aboard this ship, and he needs some time to refamiliarize himself with it.

At 11:30, Harry returns to the bridge. Unlike before, when chatter filled the bridge, it is now almost silent, the magnitude of what is about to begin weighing on everyone.

Harry walks out and onto the lookout platform in front of the bridge, where Commodore Smith stands looking out into the dock. The deck crew is pulling the mooring ropes aboard the ship in preparation to sail.

"Are we ready?" Harry asks Smith.

"Yes, sir," he replies simply. Harry just nods.

For over 20 minutes, Harry stands there on the observation platform. At 11:50, the massive gates to the dock slowly open, and the engines begin powering up.

At 11:53 PM, Harry gets on the microphone and says, "Engines back one-third." The engines begin to scream, and the ship's two massive screws begin spinning backwards, and the massive battlewagon slowly begins to slide back out of the dock.

Once the prow clears the dock, the _Gryffindor_ slowly begins turning, helped by tugs. The helmsman soon stops the screws, and the _Gryffindor_ soon comes to a stop beside the dock.

Harry watches through infra-red vision goggles as all across the harbor, ships pull out of their docks, all darkened, with all lights turned off. He watches as they all sit there, waiting.

Harry waits, watching his watch carefully. The last seconds tick down, and then his watch hits midnight.

"Engines ahead flank! Let's get underway!" Harry says into the microphone. Behind him, the screws start turning at full speed. Slowly but surely, the massive battleship begins moving forward, her vast bulk trying in vain to resist the push of her powerful engines.

Harry relishes in the feeling as the _Gryffindor_ sails towards the mouth of Sydney Harbor. Looking around, he sees the rest of the ships of the fleet pulling in behind the _Gryffindor_ as she continues forward. Carriers. Battleships. Cruisers. Destroyers. Frigates. Submarines. Support ships. All following Harry's flagship as she steams for open waters.

Shore personnel watch with pride as the gathering fleet sails out of the harbor. The time has come.

To the north, in Brisbane, the second half of the main battle fleet is also putting to sea. And far further north, on the north coast, at the port of Darwin, the transport fleet is sailing out as well.

The two portions of the main battle fleet rendezous off the coast just south of Brisbane, then head north towards Townshend Island, where they would rendezvous in a few days with the transport fleet.

* * *

(4 days later, August 1, 2008, 8 PM, sea east of Townshend island)

It's been four days since the fleet departed their ports. Now, Harry is again on the lookout platform of the _Gryffindor_ , looking out over the assembled fleet, still finding it one of the most impressive sights he's ever seen.

The main battle fleet surrounds him, the biggest collection of warships the Free Forces have ever attempted. The backbone of the fleet are 6 supercarriers ( _Nimitz, Argus, Victorious, Independence, Albus Dumbledore, and Challenger)_ , 6 battleships ( _New Jersey, Missouri, Gryffindor, Bismark, Dauntless, and Arizona)_ , and 2 battlecruisers ( _Hood_ and _James Potter)_. The escorts comprise 3 Osprey class anti-aircraft cruisers, 11 guided missile cruisers, 40 destroyers, 15 frigates, 29 attack submarines, and 4 guided missile submarines.

Harry looks to the west, to where the transport fleet lies, between the main battle fleet and Townshend Island. The fleet is mainly comprised of several hundred transport ships, carrying 600,000 troops of the Marines' 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 12 Corps, as well as everything they need for an amphibious invasion. Providing escort are two fast attack carriers (the _Ark Royal_ and the _Sirius Black_ ), 2 battleships ( _Iowa_ and _Warspite_ ), two battlecruisers ( _Repulse_ and _Avenger_ ), the former-Peruvian gun cruiser _Almirante Grau_ , 2 anti-aircraft cruisers, 5 guided missile cruisers, 24 destroyers, 13 frigates, and 14 attack submarines. Ron is in command of this fleet, flying his flag aboard _FFS Warspite_.

Harry stands motionless, overlooking the fleet. Everything is ready. He's just waiting for the pre-arranged signal to move.

To the west, on Townshend Island, at the Sirius Black Space Center, families and dignitaries sit in the stands, staring at the Space Shuttle _Columbia_ , which sits on the launch pad, ready to launch on the Free Forces' 100th shuttle flight.

On board the _Columbia_ , on the flight deck, in the seat behind the commander's, Gabrielle Delacour Allen shifts in her seat. It's T-Minus 2 minutes to launch.

"Alright. Let's get this show on the road!" she calls.

"Oh, yeah!" Stephen K. Robinson calls from the seat beside her.

"Alright, crew. Let's go make General Potter proud and have a successful mission!" Rick Husband says from the commander's seat.

"T-Minus 90 seconds and counting," the announcer calls from outside.

Gabrielle smiles as she waits. The last 2 minutes before launch the first time she flew in space made her get so impatient. And it's no different this time.

She waits, and waits. Finally, she hears, "T-Minus 30 seconds and counting."

Gabrielle beams. She whispers to herself, "Alright. Let's get going!"

"T-Minus 15...14...13...12...11...10. We have a go for main engine start," calls the announcer.

Beneath her, Gabrielle feels her very body vibrate as the main engines fire up. She can the feel the nose of the shuttle move over slightly, the vibrations running through the ship growing even stronger.

Gabrielle waits just a few more seconds. Then, she hears the roar coming from the main engines get overlapped with a far louder roar, as the solid rocket boosters ignite.

As they do, the mechanisms holding the shuttle to the ground release, and _Columbia_ lifts off the pad, the cheers from the ground almost completely drowned in the massive roar generated by _Columbia_.

Inside the shuttle, Gabrielle is being shaken all over the place as the shuttle rises into the air. The feeling of the incredible force behind her, pushing the shuttle skywards, is a feeling and thrill that has no equal.

"Sydney, _Columbia_ , roll program," Commander Husband says over the radio.

"Roger roll, _Columbia_ ," Mission Control responds.

Gabrielle feels the _Columbia_ roll over onto its back and settle into the correct trajectory for orbit. The _Columbia_ accelerates heavenwards, quickly streaking through Mach 1. Across Australia and New Zealand, people watch _Columbia_ on its ascent. This is the most symbolic Shuttle mission yet. This time, as _Columbia_ ascends to orbit, it is sending a signal to the whole world that the Free Forces will hide no longer.

Back with the fleet, Harry watches an E-2 Hawkeye launch off the _Nimitz_ to begin a patrol. Then, a lookout calls, "General Potter! Look! Bearing 2-6-5!"

Harry turns and looks to the western sky. And he smiles as he sees a bright dot. He raises his Omnioculars and zooms in, and sees _Columbia_ , continuing its climb to orbit, now almost directly over the fleet, over 20 miles high. And, within just a few seconds, Harry watches as the solid rocket boosters are jettisoned. Their flames slowly die down as the boosters themselves fall to Earth, while _Columbia_ continues over the fleet.

Harry smiles. There's the signal. He gets on the microphone and orders, "Engines ahead two-thirds. Full right rudder. Come to course 0-4-5."

The _Gryffindor_ 's engines rev up to full power, and she begins moving. Slowly, she begins a turn to starboard, coming to a course due north-east. Slowly, she gains momentum, pulling ahead. The rest of the fleet forms up behind her, and follows her into the Coral Sea, heading towards the gap between the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, while one destroyer remains behind to oversee the recovery of the rocket boosters.

The fleet is on its way.

The Free Forces are finally coming out of isolation.

The was has begun.

* * *

 **I hope I did that chapter well. I was really excited to write it.**

 **Next chapter should come soon. It'll feature the capture of Guam and Iwo Jima. The invasion of Japan should come the chapter after that.**

 **For those wondering, the other astronaut mentioned aboard** ** _Columbia_** **is an actual American astronaut, and was on the Return to Flight mission following Columbia's destruction.**

 **That's all for now. Please, please, please review and let me know how I'm doing.**

 **Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6- Operation Rising Sun

**Hey, everybody! I know it's been a little bit since I updated this, but I'm back with another chapter.**

 **I know I've done this once already, but I decided not to do the chapter I originally planned to cover the capture of Guam and Iwo Jima. Just mainly because I didn't have enough material to make a good chapter. But, this will do a brief recap to describe what's happened since the last chapter, and cover the main purpose of this chapter: the beginning of the liberation of Japan.**

 **Let's get to it.**

* * *

Chapter 6- Operation Rising Sun

Morning was approaching in Japan. On the Yokosuka peninsula, Voldemort's forces were only just barely beginning to wake up. Most were still asleep, and those that were awake were still tired. They felt it would be another normal day.

This day would be anything by normal.

Off the coast, a massive fleet lay still, waiting for the sun to rise. It's Task Force 1 and Task Force 2, the main battle force and transport fleet that together form the invasion fleet.

12 miles offshore, from the bridge of the battleship _Gryffindor_ , Harry looks out at the Japanese coastline as the sun slowly starts to get brighter, the sun not yet over the horizon.

It's now September 1st. It's been a month since the fleet left Australia. The capture of Guam and Iwo Jima went perfectly to plan. Both islands were showered with cruise missiles to knock out all their communications, then quickly landed troops. Both islands were taken easily. Three divisions from the 7th Corps now hold Guam, and a single division, also from the 7th Corps, holds Iwo Jima. The remaining division from the 7th Corps has been temporarily merged with the 6th Corps.

The last month has been hectic for Harry. Not only because of the captures of Guam and Iwo Jima, but because just a week ago, Ginny gave birth. Harry watched the delivery over a video call so he could be there, in a way, for Ginny. And, to Ginny's great delight, the baby was girl. They named her Lily Luna Potter.

Now, the fleet lies off the coast of Japan, ready for battle. Ready for Operation Rising Sun.

The name for the operation had been chosen for three reasons. One, due to Japan being called "the land of the rising sun". Two, that the signal for the operation begin was the sunrise. And three, because on this morning, the sun would rise on a world at war. A world that would be at war for years.

Harry watches the coastline. The selected landing beaches are relatively deserted. This location had turned out to be a good choice for initial landings because there were relatively few defenders there.

The carriers of Task Force 1, and the escorts of Task Force 2, are all further out to sea, protecting any approach to the landing beaches, and the transports, by sea. But all the battleships, battlecruisers, and 2 dozen cruisers and destroyers have all formed into a battle line 12 miles off the coast, within gun range of every ship. And on the carriers, fighters are warming up, getting ready for takeoff.

Harry gets on the radio to the _Argus_. "Malfoy. Are we ready?" he asks.

"Yeah. Ready to begin at any moment," Malfoy says.

"Good," is Harry's response, and he shuts off the radio. He then resumes staring at the coastline. It's almost time. There's no going back. The clock is ticking away the final minutes of peace the world will see for years.

Harry watches the horizon, just waiting. Finally, the sun peaks over the horizon. The sun rises on a world at war.

"Fire!" Harry shouts. The command is relayed to the bridge, then to the gun plot in CIC. And, with an ear-shattering explosion, the nine 18.1 inch guns of the _Gryffindor_ open fire on Japan.

The first shells land several hundred yards beyond the beach, destroying several tanks and killing a number of soldiers. Voldemort's forces are woken by the sound, right into chaos.

Deep in the bowels of the _Gryffindor_ , the gun crews race to reload the guns. At the same time, the _Dauntless_ and her sister ship _Bismark_ fire their 16 inch guns, followed seconds later by the _Arizona_. Then, both battlecruisers of Task Force 1, the _Hood_ and the _James Potter_ , open fire. Then, last of all, for the first time in 63 years, the 16 inch guns of the _New Jersey_ and _Missouri_ open fire on the Japanese coast.

Voldemort's forces scramble in a mad frenzy to try and respond to this, but have no idea where exactly the attack is coming from. Some troops stationed in the peninsula start trying to race inland, away from the explosions falling all around them.

Back out to sea, the cruisers and destroyers join in the bombardment with their five inch guns. At the same time, guided missile cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and battleships begin launching Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets across Honshu. Within minutes, over 300 Tomahawks are in the air, heading towards their targets.

The bombardment of the land beaches lasts for a full 90 minutes. Then, almost in perfect sync, the ships bombarding the beach cease fire.

But this is only the beginning. As troops begin getting into the landing boats, the next phase of the strike begins. An hour into the bombardment, the carriers of Task Force 1 had begun launching their fighters. Now, half an hour later, an aerial strike force of 72 F-14s, 56 F/A-18Cs, 40 Rafale Ms, 44 A-6s, 32 Su-33s, and 52 F/A-18Es, with 10 EA-6B Prowlers with them for electronic warfare support, are orbiting over their carriers. A total of 306 aircraft.

As the bombardment ceases, the Navy air strike prepares to begin heading towards their targets on the Yokosuka peninsula. Their job is prepare the way for the landing forces, as well as to sink ships in Yokosuka harbor.

Aboard the _Gryffindor_ , Harry hears the call over the radio, "This is Captain Andrew Hall, _FFS Argus_. Beginning our attack run." He watches as the fighters turn towards the coast.

Then, another call comes over the radio. "This is Air Force Sentry Alpha. Strike inbound."

* * *

(50 miles south-east of the _Gryffindor_ )

Hermione shifts in her seat. The sound of the jet engines running for hours on end tends to make one tired. But now, being just miles from Japan, she focuses intently, knowing one mistake or lapse of judgement could mean getting blown out of the sky.

She's flying The Lioness, her personal Su-30 Flanker, just one out of a massive strike force of 560 F-15Cs, F-15Es, Su-27s, Su-30s, Tornados, F-2s, Mirage 2000s, and Rafales. The jet is carrying two external fuel tanks, two AA-11 Archer heat-seeking missiles on her wingtips, 2 AA-10 Alamo radar guided missiles, 2 AGM-88 HARM missiles, a LANTIRN navigation and targeting pod, a HARM targeting system (HTS) pod, and six 500 lb. laser guided bombs. Her squadron is one of those assigned to destroy anti-air defenses in the area south of Tokyo, to pave the way for future airstrikes against Tokyo itself. Her squadron is near the front of the strike force.

"Victor? You ready?" Hermione calls to Victor Alexandrov, her backseater from Russia, who she has flown with for the last two years. They've become very good friends, and are widely regarded as one of the best crews in Flanker community.

"Indeed, Hermione. Ready for action," Victor responds.

"All aircraft, this is Sentry Bravo," a crew member aboard the second Sentry supporting the operation calls out over the radio, "Hostile aircraft detected ahead. Keep your eyes peeled."

Hermione's senses perk up at the mention of enemy fighters ahead. She takes a close look at her radar, but sees nothing.

"Lion flight, check in," she calls on the radio to her flight.

"Lion 2, standing by."

"Lion 3, standing by."

"Lion 4, standing by."

Hermione grips the control stick tightly. She looks down at the sea, and can see ships of the invasion fleet below.

"Hermione, we have a contact," Victor calls. Hermione looks down at her radar, and sees a radar contact 50 miles away, heading towards them.

"Sentry Bravo, this is Lion 1. I have a contact 50 miles directly ahead of me. Requesting ID," she calls out.

There's a few moments of silence. Then, a controller on the Sentry responds, "Lion 1, this is Sentry Bravo. Confirm contact as hostile F-16. You are cleared to arm and fire."

"Copy," she responds to the Sentry, then orders Victor, "Victor, lock him up."

Victor's hands work the controls, firing up the targeting radar and working to gain radar lock on the approaching F-16. After a few moments, and at a distance of 45 miles, Victor calls out, "I have radar lock. Shoot!"

Hermione pulls the trigger. The aircraft shudders slightly as an AA-10 Alamo missile falls away from the wing and ignites, streaking away towards its target. When the missile is just 10 miles from the F-16, the enemy fighter tries to manuever away. But it's efforts are futile. The Alamo ignores the chaff and bores right in, striking at the base of the tail, destroying the rear half of the jet. The enemy pilot manages to eject.

"Splash one! Splash one!" Victor calls out over the radio. In the span of seconds, Hermione has made history. She has scored the first air to air kill of the greatest war in human history.

Hermione continues forward, grinning slightly beneath her oxygen mask. As she and her squadron nears the coastline, she noses down into a dive, descending to 5,000 feet, powering up her HTS targeting pod.

As they pass over the coast, the pod begins sending her a warning. Hermione turns to follow the signal. The signal the HTS pod is picking up is characteristic of a Russian made SA-11 SAM launcher.

Hermione feels a chill. The SA-11 is bad news. She noses down further, banking in the direction of the launcher.

Scanning the ground, she spots the launcher just ahead. Knowing the SA-11 can also be infrared guided, she forgoes the HARM. Instead, she powers up her LANTIRN pod, fires the laser at the launcher, and drops one of her bombs. The bomb follows the laser beam right to its target, destroying the launcher.

"This is Colonel Weasley. Just destroyed a Gadfly launcher. Searching for new targets," she calls as she continues low over the trees.

As she continues flying, the HTS pod picks up more signals up ahead. Distinctive of US built Patriot SAM launchers.

Then, an alarm starts blaring. "Hermione, we got a radar locked on us!" Victor cries.

Hermione reacts instinctively. She quickly ripple fires her two HARMS at the radars up ahead, then pops her nose up and drops a bomb on the launchers up ahead for good measure, then pumps out chaff and turns hard.

The Patriot launchers don't even get a chance. Before they can even launch a missile at Hermione, the HARMs destroy the radar and one of the launchers, the bomb finishing the job.

Hermione pulls up. With her HARMs now gone, she's down to just 4 more laser guided bombs.

Suddenly, a radar contact pops up ahead of her. Instantly, she shoves the throttles forward and moves to engage.

Coming over a rise, she sees a MiG-29 just ahead of her. The two jets pass each other, then each pilots starts turning hard to get on the other's tail.

Hermione is concerned. The MiG-29 is at least as agile as her Flanker. For this, she needs every ounce of agility she can muster. Deciding to sacrifice the rest of her mission, she jettisons her remaining bombs, as well as her two external fuel tanks. They fall on a major highway, destroying a few trucks shuttling some ammunition north to Tokyo.

Hermione pulls hard, trying to get behind the Fulcrum. Luckily, the Fulcrum pilot seems to be relatively inexperienced, as he's not turning near as tight as Hermione knows the Fulcrum is capable of. Soon, she's in position behind him.

"I'm going for missile lock," she calls, activating her Archer missiles. The growl of the missile lock tone sounds in her helmet, letting her know the missile is tracking. Her finger closes around the trigger and sends the Archer on its way. The missile quickly closes on the Fulcrum, and goes right up the right tailpipe, blowing the Fulcrum to pieces.

"Splash two for Lion 1," Hermione calls over the radio.

Hermione pulls up to 5,000 feet and turns north, scanning the area for new threats. Suddenly, her radio crackles to life, and she hears, "Colonel! This is Lion 4. I'm two miles west of you, and I've got a MiG on my tail!"

"On my way," Hermione says, and she snaps into a left bank, heading straight for Lion 4.

She quickly spots Lion 4 about 1,000 feet above her, about a half mile ahead, with a MiG-21 on his tail.

Hermione noses up and says, "Lock him up, Victor!"

She closes on them, eyes outside the cockpit. Victor quickly responds, "We're too close! I can't get a good lock!"

Hermione growls, then powers up her remaining Archer. She quickly gets a good tone, and radioes Lion 4, "Lion 4, on my count of three, break hard right. One. Two. Three!"

Lion 4, a young Russian lieutenant, snaps his Flanker into a hard right turn. The MiG-21 tries to follow him, but gives Hermione a perfect shot in the process. She triggers the missile, which streaks in and impacts the right wing, tearing it from the aircraft. The MiG pilot manages to eject.

"Thanks, Colonel," Lion 4 says as he levels off.

"Watch after yourself," Hermione as she turns north again, descending to 3,000 feet.

For a minute, things seem quiet. Then, suddenly, a voice breaks over the radio, shouting, "This is Rapier 3. Lion 1, that's a bandit on your a**! Break right!"

Hermione instantly snaps her fighter into a right bank, while looking behind her, to see a Japanese built F-2 fighter just half a mile behind her.

As she's looking, she sees a flash as the F-2 launches a heat-seeking missile at her. "S***!" she curses as she snaps the stick into her gut, punching out flares to try and decoy the missile. Thankfully, the missile loses lock.

Knowing she has to lose this guy, Hermione continues her turn and ducks into a small expanse of hills, throttling up to try and put some distance between herself and the F-2. But the enemy fighter stays on her tail.

Years ago, Hermione would've felt terrified in this situation. Now, she just cooly and calmly reacts to the unfolding situation. Dodging between hills, she formulates a plan.

Turning around a particular hill, she slams the throttles forward and accelerates ahead. Then, she cuts the engines back down, pops her speed brakes, and pops her nose up. At almost the same time, she slams the rudder. The effect sees the Flanker's nose come up, as the aircraft rotates sideways 90 degrees, so that Flanker is nose up and flying sideways through the air for a few brief seconds. Then, Hermione slams the throttles into afterburner. The powerful thrust of her twin engines push against the Flanker's direction of travel, and soon overcomes it.

The Flanker begins moving around the hill to Hermione's right, as it rises into the air. Once she gets up to 1,000 feet, Hermione pulls back hard on the stick, flipping her fighter around, and seeing the F-2 below her, trying to compensate for the move. But it's too late. Hermione lines the F-2 up, centering it in her gunsight, flips her armament control to GUN, and fires off a brief two second burst. 30 mm rounds slam into the F-2, setting the jet's fuel tanks on fire, and the F-2 crashes seconds later.

"Splash 4 for Lion 1!" Hermione calls over the radio. There are a chorus of cheers over the radio.

"Air Force aircraft, this is Sentry Bravo. You are cleared to begin return journey once weapons are expended," a controller aboard Sentry Bravo calls over the radio to the whole Air Force strike force.

"Lion flight, what's your weapons status?" Hermione calls over the radio.

"This is Lion 3. I'm empty," Lion 3 calls over the radio.

"Lion 4. I have three of my missiles, and one more bomb," Lion 4 calls out.

"Hold on one second," Lion 2 calls. A few seconds later, he calls out again, "Splash 2! I now have just one AAM left."

"Alright," Hermione responds, before calling out to the Sentry, "This Lion 1. Lion flight is bugging out." And together, she and her three fellow pilots turn south-east for Iwo Jima.

* * *

( _FFS Gryffindor,_ 12 miles off the Japanese coast)

Harry is now in the bridge, listening to radio chatter from the aircraft. From the sound of it, all aircraft are hitting their targets with great success, with kill counts on enemy aircraft ranging over 40 at this point.

Far ahead of him, Harry can see the Marine landing boats, carrying men of the 4th American Marine Division and 22nd Japanese Marine Division, are approaching the beach. No artillery fire is coming at the boats, only scattered rifle fire.

Harry listens intently to the transmissions. Finally, he hears, "We've hit the beach! Soldiers moving ashore!"

Harry grins as he pulls out his Omnioculars. Zooming in, he can see American and Japanese Marines storming out of the landing boats, racing inland. Occasionally, one of them will fall to gunfire, but the naval gunfire and continued bombing and strafing attacks from the Navy's aircraft has eliminated most resistance.

"Men are ashore! We're moving inland! Working to establish a beachhead!" a transmission from the troops on the beach comes over the radio.

Harry smiles. Then, another transmission comes over the radio, saying, "This is Captain Brent Jackson of the 4th Division! We're drawing artillery fire from a fortress about a mile inland. Requesting immediate supporting fire!"

"I want that fortress levelled!" Harry orders before moving to CIC. A minute later, the battleships _Bismark_ and _Missouri_ start hurling shells at the designated spot. It only takes a few salvos from the two battleships to turn the fortress into rubble.

Over the next few hours, Harry monitors the combat on the beach. Finally, around noon, the troops ashore report that they are encountering no more resistance, and moving inland. Harry gives the order to begin full-scale landing operations, and begin moving the supplies and heavy equipment ashore.

By the end of the day, the Free Forces have secured the Yokosuka peninsula. The men of the 1st, 3rd, and 12th Corps are all ashore, a combination of American, Japanese, English, Filipino, and Australian divisions. The 4th and 6th Corps are beginning to be sent ashore, and the men on the beach have established a secure defense line.

Airstrikes have proven a resounding success. Major targets up and down the southern half of Honshu's coast have been hit, and multiple transports, as well as three destroyers and a frigate, had sunk in port at Yokosuka. More than that, a major air force base near Tokyo has been disabled, and Free Forces fighters scored 63 kills in air to air combat. According to a report from a Sentry, Hermione had scored 4 of those kills, just one short of becoming an ace.

As the sun sets that night, it sets on a new world. A world at war. A world on which the Free Forces are no longer hiding.

The effort to seize the world back from Voldemort has begun.

* * *

 **I hope that chapter wasn't too boring. I made so much of it about Hermione because she hasn't been in the story, except by being mentioned a few times.**

 **Next chapter may not be up for at least a week or two. But, I'll try and work on this story more.**

 **Until next time, review and stay tuned.**


	7. Chapter 7- Fall of Tokyo

**Back with another chapter! Let's get to it.**

 **Also, from this point I'll use the term "Slytherin" to describe Voldemort's forces.**

* * *

Chapter 7- Fall of Tokyo

"Nice day for a fight," Tom says to his backseater, keeping his eyes out ahead of the flight.

Lieutenant Commander Tom Cruise is leading a flight of F-14 Tomcats from the carrier Nimitz as they escort the Navy strike force as it heads towards it target.

The Tokyo air defence system.

It's the day after the landing on the Yokosuka peninsula. Early that morning, in a blitzkrieg style advance, the men of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Corps stormed north towards Yokosuka. The few defenders had mostly fled the city, and the army had captured the city and its valuable naval base with almost no resistance. Leaving the men of the 3rd Corps behind to hold the city, the 1st and 4th Corps had continued north and immediately moved to attack Tokyo.

Tokyo was going to be one of the most important targets of the early phase of the war, mainly for its symbolic value, and the demoralizing effect it's capture would have on Voldemort's forces.

The men of the 1st and 4th Corps are now gathered outside the city limits of Tokyo. At the same time, below the Navy strike force, a group of transport ships, carrying the men of the 12th Corps.

"This is Hawk 1. Bandits ahead." Every plane in the 100 plane strike force hears the call from one of the E-2 Hawkeyes providing radar coverage.

Tom looks down at his radar. This reminds him of his time shooting the movie _Top Gun._

Suddenly, bandit signals start to pop up on his radar. IFF identifies them as hostile F-4 Phantoms. Tom counts a band of about 10 heading towards the strike force.

"Maverick flight, this is Maverick 1," Tom says, a smile coming across his face at the mention of the callsign of the flight.

"Copy, Maverick 1," his wingman says.

"Everybody lock up bandits. You're cleared to fire as soon as you have a lock," Tom says. He then calls to his backseater, Lieutenant Sam Gallo, "Lock up the lead two."

Gallo hurries to get radar lock on the first two Phantoms. After a few seconds, he says, "I have lock. Shoot!"

"Fox Three!" Tom calls out on the radio. An AIM-54 Phoenix drops free and ignites. A second one follows it a moment later, and both missiles streak towards their targets at Mach 5.

The Phantom pilots hear the missile warning. But, they can't see the missiles, and the Phoenixes are closing in too fast. Soon, they reach their targets, and the two lead Phantoms are obliterated.

The rest of Maverick flight follows their leader's move, and 6 more Phoenixes launch, scoring 5 kills and 1 damaged.

"This is Maverick flight. Splash 7," Tom calls triumphantly over the radio.

Behind him and the five other flights of Tomcats, the 76 F/A-18s, Rafales, and A-6s power up their anti-radiation missiles and start searching for their targets. At the same time, the other Tomcats begin launching their Phoenixes and Sparrows at more enemy fighters that appear, heading to intercept the strike force. The kill count begins climbing rapidly.

At a distance of 5 miles from Tokyo, the leader of the lead flight of Hornets issues the order to attack. And with that, anti-radiation missiles (ARMs) start flying at the SAM launchers and radar-guided anti-aircraft gun batteries protecting the city.

Tom grins as he sees the flurry of ARMs flying beneath him, homing in remorselessly on their targets. Then, on his radar, he spots a formation of MiG-23s on his radar.

"This is Maverick 1. Spotted some Floggers on radar, bearing 2-5-0, 15 miles from Tokyo. We're pursuing," Tom says. On his command, he and the rest of his flight go to afterburners and speed off in pursuit of the Floggers.

Down on the ground, M1 tanks of the 1st and 4th Corps open fire on Slytherin artillery positions in the outskirts of the city. The Slytherins are still relatively unprepared, and are unable to marshall an effective defense.

The Marine tank gunners have trained for this for years, and their aim is true. The stationary Slytherin artillery pieces and tanks are easy targets, and the FF Marine tanks begin destroying them in droves.

From his command post in Yokosuka, Bill Weasley is monitoring the operation through video surveillance from a squadron of MQ-1 Predator drones. He is also listening to radio chatter from the Navy strike force. The strikers have finished hitting their targets, and begun returning to their carriers, while the F-14s remain on patrol. At the same time, another strike force, mainly comprised of Su-33s and F/A-18s, escorted by more F-14s, is inbound to provide close air support as needed.

"Issue the orders. Begin the push towards Tokyo. Tanks in front. I want the 1st Corps to lead the charge," Bill orders. A brigadier General working under him hurries to forward the orders.

Outside Tokyo, the Marine M1s begin their charge towards Tokyo. Behind them, men of the 1st American Marine Division and 9th Japanese Marine Division, both of the 1st Corps, begin shouting their war cries and begin their charge.

The Slytherin forces find themselves in their worst nightmare. The tanks continue their advance, firing all the while. And 40,000 troops charge behind them, with 160,000 more standing ready to follow them.

Seeing the seriousness of the situation, the Slytherin commanders order the troops to pull back into the city to organize an effective defense. The Slytherin troops race to form a defensive line, as more Slytherin troops race from all parts of Tokyo to reinforce their comrades, and finally manage to slow the Marine advance.

But, the concentration of Slytherin troops in the south-western part of the city to meet the 1st and 4th Corps was exactly what Harry had expected. Even as the Slytherin line is slowing down the two Corps, a formation of ships sails into Tokyo Bay. And, very symbolically, the formation is led by the battleship _USS Missouri_. Behind her are the battleships _Bismark_ and _Arizona_ , as well as half a dozen destroyers, and transports carrying the men of the 12th Corps.

The _Missouri_ comes to a stop in the middle of Tokyo Bay. And just moments later, in her first trip to the city in over 6 decades, the _Missouri_ opens fire on Tokyo.

Her fire is directed at the defenses lining the port, trying to pave the way for the 12th Corps. The _Bismark_ and _Arizona_ open fire as well, all three battleships raining 16 inch shells on the defenses.

The bombardment continues for 20 minutes before the three battleships cease fire. Anti-air defenses and artillery positions, as well as fuel and ammunition stores, have been obliterated. But, the docks and equipment necessary to unload massive cargo ships are all still intact.

The troop transports move in and carefully pull up to the docks. Their cargo ramps lower, and troops of the 47th and 50th American Marine Divisions, 53rd Russian Marine Division, 58th Filipino Marine Division, and 85th Indonesian Marine Division begin to disembark from the ships.

An American General named Scott Grant is in command of the 12th Corps. Once the 47th, 53rd, and 58th Divisions are ashore, Grant orders them to push into Tokyo, and for the 50th and 85th Divisions to join them once all their men are ashore.

The three divisions form up and begin their push into the city. At that same time, the strike force of 40 Su-33 Flankers and 44 F/A-18E Super Hornets arrive. A number of them begin their attack runs, hitting the Slytherin troops with 500 lb bombs and rockets, throwing the Slytherin line into chaos.

Then, as the first strikers pull out of their attack runs, the 47th, 53rd, and 58th Divisions suddenly come on them from their rear, catching them completely off guard.

The Slytherin forces find themselves trapped, with 2 full Corps ahead of them, and three divisions behind them, with two more divisions soon to join the three. Not only that, but the Death Eater leading them was killed when a 20 mm cannon shell from a Super Hornet on a strafing run tore through his vehicle.

It doesn't take long for the general now in command of the Slytherin army to realize the situation is hopeless. His army has now dwindled down to just 50,000 men. Only two and a half divisions worth of men. And the army surrounding him numbers over a quarter of a million.

Despite the strength of the Imperius Curse on the Slytherin General, he is not a man to unnecessarily waste the lives of his men. He orders his troops to lay down their weapons and run up anything that can be a white flag.

The American General in command of the 1st Corps sees their actions, and orders his men to cease fire. The Marines then descend on the enemy.

The Slytherin do not resist. The Marines take their weapons, then take all of the men into custody. Per regulations created prior to the war, all of them will be kept in a prisoner of war camp until they can figure out how to break the Imperius Curse over all of them.

The Generals commanding the three Corps coordinate the occupation of the city, and round up the puppet politifal leaders of Tokyo. They then inform Bill that the city has been captured. Bill then passes the message on to the fleet.

It's late in the evening aboard the battleship _Gryffindor_ when Harry is called to the bridge.

As Harry walks onto the bridge, Commodore Smith says, "General, we received a communication from the _Argus_ , which they passed on from General Bill Weasley."

"Okay. What is the message?" Harry asks.

"It reads as follows: 1st Corps commander reports Tokyo fallen. Enemy soldiers in custody. Organizing occupation of the city," Smith says.

Harry smiles. "Is the chopper ready?" he asks Smith. Smith nods.

"Very well. I am off," Harry says, and he begins making his way to the stern of the ship.

When he reaches the stern, he finds an SH-60 Seahawk with its rotors spinning. He quickly boards the helicopter, which takes off and starts heading towards Tokyo Bay.

On the way there, Harry reviews over the cost of the battle. Almost 10,000 Marines had died, and 47 tanks had been destroyed. On the other hand, they had destroyed almost every single air defense unit in and around the city. They had killed most of the defenders, and taken almost 50,000 prisoner. They had destroyed over 100 tanks, and captured 20. And in the air, the Navy fighter pilots had confirmed a total of 49 kills, making it 112 fighters that Voldemort had lost in the last two days.

The fall of Tokyo, Harry knows, is invaluable. They now have another major port to use to bring supplies into, and two airports with which to fly supplies into, as well as to begin staging fighters out of. But, perhaps the greatest value of Tokyo is about to be realized.

The sun is starting to dil below the horizon when the Seahawk lands. The door opens, and Harry hops out onto the stern of the battleship _Missouri_. He look around at the officers that have assembled, and the news crew.

Harry waits for the helicopter to fly off, then asks the _Missouri_ 's captain, "Are we ready?"

"Affirmative. Whenever you're ready sir," the captain says.

Harry smiles. The history of this moment is hitting him. Here he is, on the battleship _Missouri_ , which is lying at anchor in the exact spot where exactly 63 years today, the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, and he is about to make an announcement that will change the world.

"Go," he orders.

The news crew adjust their cameras, as high above the planet, special communications satellites launched by the space shuttles over the last two years begin tapping into Voldemort's emergency broadcast system. Then, the cameramen start filming, and the image of Harry, set against the setting sun, is broadcast across the world.

"Hello. My name is Harry Potter. I am a High General of the military of the Free Forces, and commander in chief of all military forces of the Free Forces. And I am here to make an announcement."

"For 8 years, the Free Forces have kept themselves in isolation. But that time is over. We will hide no longer."

"Yesterday, at sunrise in Japan, 520,000 troops of the Free Forces Marine Corps landed on the Yokosuka peninsula in Japan, and today, they pushed north. Towards Tokyo."

"I am here, on the stern of the battleship _USS Missouri_ , anchored in Tokyo Bay on the same spot where the Japanese surrendered 63 years ago today, to announce to the world that Tokyo has fallen. We are now in possession of the city. And we will not stop there."

"To Voldemort, I now speak directly to you. You have held control of this world for too long. We will not sit idly by any longer. We will fight to the end. We will take the rest of Japan. Then, we will press on, until we come to Britain itself, where we will finally bring you down, and free this world for good. Try as you might, you cannot stop us. We will defeat you. And if we can't, then we will fight until we can fight no more, and we will all burn together."

Harry stands there in silence, and the camera crew waits only a moment before turning off their cameras.

Across the world, people are stunned to here of the invasion, and that Tokyo has fallen. For Voldemort and many of in his high command, this is the first they have heard of the invasion. Voldemort is in a fury, and demands reinforcements be sent to Japan.

Nobody realizes just how much the world is going to change.

The fall of Tokyo is just the first battle. The first battle in what will become the most destructive war in human history.

* * *

 **I'll end there. I hope this wasn't too boring, or too fast paced. I wasn't sure what else to put in it.**

 **I hope you liked my inclusion of Tom Cruise. It thought it appropriate he be an F-14 pilot in this.**

 **Please review and stay tuned.**


	8. Chapter 8- The First Ace

**Hey. Been a little while since I last updated this story. Updates on this story may be a little less frequent than some of my others, but I'll still try and get them out.**

 **Let's get to it.**

* * *

Chapter 8- The First Ace

Hermione watches out the side of the cockpit as the ground crew are finishing fuelling up her jet. After a few more moments, the man in charge takes a step back so she can see him better and gives her a thumbs up as the team snakes the fuel pumps away from the Flanker.

"Alright, Victor. Let's finally get going," Hermione says.

"Yeah," Victor replies as Hermione starts revving up the engines, and the Flanker begins moving along the taxiway. The other three Flankers of her flight follow behind her.

It's been a week since the fall of Tokyo. The Free Forces have used this opportunity to build up their forces on Japan. In addition to the Marines who landed, the Army has deployed 2 field armies, 400,000 strong, to reinforce them. Additional fighters have been deployed to the airfields around Tokyo. The forces in Japan are all under Bill's command, and Bill is preparing to make the push out of Tokyo.

Extensive airstrikes have been happening during the last week to weaken Voldemort's war machine in Japan. There has been surprisingly little resistance from enemy fighters, which wasn't too surprising, given how many fighters Voldemort had lost in the first two days of the war.

This is Hermione's third mission this week. The first two had been bombing missions against air-defense networks surrounding Osaka and Nagoya. Today, she and her flight, as well as two other flights of Su-30s are providing fighter escort for a strike force of 20 F-4 Phantoms and 10 Tornados that are going to be striking a major rail yard and fuel dump in Hiroshima. For that, they'll be carrying a full load of 10 air to air missiles in addition to external fuel tanks.

The mission is extremely long-range, so they'll be refuelling from KC-10 tankers over the ocean 300 miles south-east of Hiroshima. This mission is particularly important, as the destruction of the rail yard will largely cut off forces on the eastern end of Honshu and the island of Kyushu from some of the major cities near Tokyo, such as Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto. It will also result in the destruction of a major amount of Slytherin fuel stores, seriously hampering forces on Kyushu and the eastern end of Honshu.

Hermione continues taxiing and takes her position in the takeoff cue. Since the Flanker has one of the longest ranges of any fighter, they'll be the last to take off.

Hermione watches the Phantoms and Tornados take off ahead of her. Then, she pulls her Flanker onto the runway, her wingman right beside her, and the two Flankers throttle up and take to the skies.

Hermione waits for the rest of the Flankers to join up. Once they're all airborne, the entire strike force, 42 aircraft in total, form up, and head south. Once they're 300 miles from the coast, they turn west towards Hiroshima.

It's a relatively brief flight. Within an hour, they're rendezvousing with the tankers south of Hiroshima. The Flankers are relatively okay, so they just briefly top off their tanks. The Phantoms and Tornados fully refuel, then the strike force turns north towards Hiroshima.

As the strike force nears the coast, Hermione radioes the entire strike force. "Alright. Everyone, listen up. We're deep in enemy territory. We're more likely to encounter enemies here. So, everyone keep your head on a swivel. Pay attention to your radars, but make sure to keep your eyes outside the cockpit too."

"Strikers. Hit the target fast and hard. Make sure and hit the rail yard before focusing on the fuel tanks. Lion, Kingfisher, and Tiger flights, establish a defensive area around the target area," she continues.

"Copy that, Colonel," one of the Tornado pilots replies.

The Phantoms and Tornados descend to 5,000 feet, while the Flankers maintain their altitude of 12,000 feet, pulling ahead of the strikers.

Hermione leads her flight past the target area to set up a defensive patrol on the northern part of the city. The other two flights of Flankers move towards the eastern and western parts of the city.

Hermione listens on the radio as the lead Tornado pilot calls out over the radio, "Starting our run on the train yard."

The Tornados separate into pairs. The two lead pairs, equipped with 1,000 lb bombs, make their runs on the station facilities and platforms themselves. A third pair bombs the maintenace buildings. The remaining two pairs, equipped with 500 lb bombs, bomb the rail lines themselves, striking the lines throughout the city. The Tornados

The Tornados pull back as the Phantom prepare to start bombing the fuel dumps. Hermione listens to transmissions as the Phantoms begin their runs.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a missile lock warning blares in Hermione's helmet. "What the...?!" she exclaims as she banks her fighter hard to the right. Looking down, she sees several air to air missiles heading up towards her and her flight, and four F-15 Eagles, maybe a hundred feet off the ground, and now climbing up towards them.

"Eagles! Lion flight, scatter!" Hermione calls over the radio as she banks her fighter to the left and snaps the stick into her gut, deploying chaff and flares to decoy the missiles. Luckily, the missiles lose lock.

"Where did they come from?" Hermione mutters under her breath as she continues her turn. Turning her head to look back, she sees that her flight has scattered. Two of the F-15s have turned to pursue Lion 3 and Lion 4. The other two have turned to pursue her wingman.

Hermione reverses her turn, cutting her engines back slightly to decrease speed, enhancing her agility.

Hermione pulls in behind the two Eagles. She calls to Victor, "Lock up the trailer."

Victor works furiously to gain radar lock on the rear Eagle. After a few moments, he says, "I got lock. Shoot."

Hermione pulls the trigger, and an AA-10 Alamo launches. The Eagles apparently notice it, because they split up, deploying chaff.

Hermione banks after the one she targeted. As the distance closes to just 2 miles, she decides it's too close for an Alamo. So, she switches over to her Archer heat-seeking missiles, gains lock, and fires. The missile streaks out. The Eagle deploys flares. But the Archer is a missile that is not easily fooled by flares. The missile only briefly hesitates, but ultimately ignores the flares and impacts the Eagle right at the base of its right tail fin, taking off the tail.

"This is Lion 1. Splash 1," Hermione calls over the radio with a grin on her face. She has again made history. With this kill, she has became the first ace of the war, and the first ace in the Su-30.

She grins broadly as the magnitude of this fact hits her. But, she quickly returns her attention to the battle as she turns in pursuit of the other F-15 that had been pursuing her wingman. But, as she turns towards him, she sees that Lion 2 has initiated a flat scissors manuever. She watches as Lion 2 and the opposing F-15 weave in and out several times. Then, Lion 2 cuts back on his engines as he prepares to turn back into the F-15 again. Caught off guard, the F-15 ends up right in front of Lion 2, who tears apart the F-15 with his 30 mm. cannon.

"Lion 2. Splash one," Lion 2 calls over the radio.

"Good job!" Hermione says cheerfully as she pulls her Flanker into a climb.

"Hermione! Multiple contacts inbound from the north-west!" Victor calls out.

Hermione instantly turns her Flanker in that direction. "Identify them," she orders Victor, who furiously goes to work trying to identify them.

After a few moments, he calls out, "Picking up no friendly IFF codes."

That's confirmation enough for Hermione. She says, "Lock them up." Victor works furiously to gain missile lock. After just a few seconds, he says, "Got it. Shoot."

Hermione pulls the trigger, sending an Alamo on its way. The missile tracks straight to its target and impacts right on the nose.

"Splash two," Hermione calls as she throttles up her engines, speeding to intercept the incoming aircraft. Lion 2 pulls up beside her and throttles up.

Within a minute, they spot the targets incoming. 6 F-16s.

"Definitely hostile. Engage," Hermione orders her wingman.

Both of them gain radar lock, and fire. The F-16s scatter, but Lion 2's missile hits home, for his second kill of the day.

The 5 remaining F-16s, and the 2 Su-30s, pass in a classic merge, then start turning hard to try and get on their enemy's tail. It's a 21st- century version of a classic dogfight.

Hermione soon finds herself right behind one of the F-16s, only about half a mile behind it. Realizing she's too close for her missiles to be truly effective, she throttles up and closes in even closer. The F-16 tries desperately to shake her, twisting and turning randomly. But Hermione sticks with him, slowly closing in. Soon, she's just 400 yards behind the F-16. She tries to line it up in her gunsight as she arms her 30 mm cannon. But, the F-16's violent jinking prevents her from getting a good shot.

Then, the F-16 rolls wings-level, and flips over to pull into a Split S. But this manuever temporarily slows it down. Hermione noses down slightly, and pulls the trigger, firing her cannon. Already in the midst of its manuever, the F-16 dives right into the stream of cannon shells. Several shells slam into the fighter's single engine, which catches fire. The Slytherin pilot ejects.

Hermione snaps her fighter into a tight turn, looking for a new target. But, tracer fire past her nose changes her priorities.

Looking behind her, she sees an F-16, around 500 yards behind her. And worse, it's nose is pointed out in front of her. The Slytherin pilot has lead on her.

Hermione reverses her turn, now banking left, though not turning as hard. Sure enough, the F-16 stays on her tail.

Going through her options, she draws on her lessons under Israeli ace Moshe Melnik, and pulls an Israeli manuever simply called, "Let him pass". She levels off, then pulls right, popping her nose up. The F-16 shoots beneath her, and she rolls over and descends onto the F-16's tail. Being only 600 yards behind her opponent, she lines up her gunsight and fires of the rest of her ammunition from her cannon. The F-16's fuel tanks catch fire, and the jet soon explodes.

Hermione dives for the deck, then levels off at 6,000 feet. She extends out a mile, then pulls into a hard turn to re-enter the fight. She sees Lion 2 trying to get a good shot at an F-16. The only other F-16 still in the air is heading right at her.

The F-16 fires a radar-guided missile at Hermione. She noses down slightly, and the missile flies right over her canopy. Soon after, the jets pass in another classic merge, then they turn hard to get on each other's tail.

The F-16 and Su-30 have comparable turn rates, and Hermione finds herself in a fierce turning fight with her opponent, neither one really gaining any ground on the other.

For nearly a minute, the two jets continue their turning fight, neither of them able to get a clean shot. Hermione is getting rather frustrated at her inability to get an advantage.

Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, Lion 4 comes blazing in, firing his cannon. The F-16 dives to avoid it, then turns to run, igniting the afterburners. Hermione quietly guesses that facing two Su-30s was too much for this pilot.

But his attempt to run for safety gives Hermione a perfect shot. She locks him up with her Archers and pulls the trigger. The missile laucnhes and streaks after the retreating F-16. Even on full afterburner, the F-16 can't outrun an Archer, and the heat from the afterburner is giving the missile an even better target. The missile strikes right at the base of the tail fin and shreds the fighter's tail. The pilot never ejects.

Hermione pulls up to 10,000 feet, breathing a little more heavily after that fight. She glances back and asks, "Any more contacts, Victor?"

"None. All bandits down. Only radar contacts remaining are our friendlies," Victor says.

"Copy that," Hermione says. She then gets on the radio and calls out, "Diamond 1, do you copy?"

"Copy you, Lion 1," replies Diamond 1, a young German captain, and the leader of the Phantoms.

"Status report," Hermione demands.

"Strike successful. All targets destroyed," replies Diamond 1.

"Copy that," Hermione says before broadcasting to all the strike force, "All Free Forces aircraft. Targets hit. Mission accomplished. Begin egress."

The rest of Lion flight forms up with Hermione, and they begin heading south.

The strike force forms up with each other over the southern part of the city, and heads out over the ocean. Two F-4s were damaged by anti-aircraft fire during their bomb runs, and one of the Su-30s from Tiger flight suffered slight damage from cannon fire in a dogfight with a MiG-29. But none of the aircraft in the strike force were shot down.

The fighters head south for another tanking. Then, they head back towards Tokyo.

As Hermione lands her fighter and taxis it towards her assigned spot, she sees a large crowd gathered at the spot, all cheering and clapping.

Hermione taxis her Flanker into position and cuts the engines. The canopy comes up, and Hermione and Victor stand up, holding up their helmets in triumph. The ground crews are all cheering and clapping. And right in the front is General Eliyahu himself.

Hermione beams broadly. Another 4 kills, making her total 8. She is an ace.

The Third World War's first ace.

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 **I'll end there.**

 **I hope it was good. I've watched a lot of documentaries on air combat, so I felt this was a chance to nerd out.**

 **For clarification on a few terms that most people probably won't know. First is the term flat scissors. It's one of two versions of the scissors manuever, a dogfighting manuever in which two jets basically swerve back forth, crossing paths over and over, trying to get an advantage over the other.**

 **The Split S is another dogfighting manuever, where a jet rolls over onto it's back, then pulls down into a dive, reversing course in the process.**

 **I'll have the next chapter up within the next few weeks. Until then, please review.**


	9. Chapter 9- Japan Liberated!

**Hello, my readers! Back again with another chapter!**

 **Hope you guys have been enjoying this story so far. Please let me know anything you would like to see. Any types of military action, any particular battles, or chapters featured on any particular character.**

 **Let's get to it.**

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Chapter 9- Japan Liberated!

(October 10, 2008)

The stars are obscured by the cloud cover that hovers at 10,000 feet over the city of Nagasaki. It's quiet, despite the many Slytherin forces in the city.

It's been over a month since the fall of Tokyo. The four home islands are now almost completely under Allied control Honshu has been completely captured, with the last stronghold on the island, Hiroshima, falling to the Free Forces on September 30. The island of Hokkaido had been invaded on September 12, and was declared liberated on September 21. The island of Shikoku was invaded on September 25, and declared liberated the following day, as all defenders on the island had been transferred to Kyushu and western Honshu. Last of all, Kyushu had been invaded on September 28. The initial landing had been the most costly landing of Operation Rising Sun. The defenders had been much more heavily dug in, and a second bombardment by the battleships was needed to soften up the defenders enough that the landing forces could take the beach.

Kyushu had been heavily defended. But, about a week earlier, all surviving forces on Kyushu had retreated to Nagasaki. It was agreed among the Free Forces' command structure that Slytherin forces intended to make their last stand in Nagasaki.

Eighteen Army divisions had descended on Nagasaki, preparing to assault the city. But, the defenses protecting the city were extensive. The Slytherin forces had particularly strong air defenses. They had many SAM launchers and anti-aircraft guns in and around the city. And in the center of the city, in the midst of civilian centers, were very powerful air-search radars that could detect incoming aircraft at several times the distance covered by the targeting radars guiding the SAMs and AA guns, also giving the Slytherin forces time to scramble their fighters well ahead of time. Anti-missile guns defended the radars from anti-radar missiles.

The first two attempts at an air attack against Nagasaki had taken heavy losses. The first attempt at a strike had resulted in the loss of 36 of the 54 aircraft. And the second had seen similar losses, with 60 of 84 aircraft shot down. Both fighters and ground-based anti-aircraft defenses had contributed to the losses.

The Air Force had cancelled further attacks. They knew that the air-search radars in the center of the city were a major part of the problem. If they could not whittle down the defenses and troop numbers with air attacks, taking Nagasaki would be a costly endeavour.

But Harry and other leaders had devised a plan. It would be highly risky. But it stood a good chance of working.

By this time, it was about 1 in the morning of October 10. In a civilian neighborhood, multiple doors suddenly open, and from out of them come men dressed in nighttime camouflage. They're members of Spetznaz Team 2, smuggled into the city one at a time over days, and hidden in the homes of members of the Japanese resistance movement. They're a combination of Russian, Chinese, South Korean, German, and Polish men.

These men together move to a rendezvous point in the neighborhood. Then, in a move that some of them really don't want to do, they descend into the sewers and begin making their way towards their targets: the buildings that contained the air-search radars.

It had been decided that targeting them with air strikes or cruise missile strikes would cause too many civilian casualties. So, a Spetznaz team, already trained in industrial sabotage, was selected to destroy the radars with as few civilian casualties as possible.

In the sewers below the city, the leader of the team, a Russian Colonel by the name of Marko Kamarov monitors his tracking device. Resistance members had pinpointed the buildings which contained the radars and left behind GPS trackers to make sure that the team could find them. Colonel Kamarov had been issued a device that could track their position in the city while in the sewers, while still receiving signals from the GPS trackers.

"Hold tight, men. I know this is less than ideal, but we've been in worse," Kamarov whispers to his men. Several groans answer him, but otherwise his men remain silent.

The trip to where the two radars are located is about 30 minutes, though in two different directions. The team splits into squads of twenty men each halfway there, each heading to one of the target buildings.

As Kamarov nears the target, he gets on a very special radio he was issued that is completely untraceable and unjammable. Twisting a dial to get on the right frequency, he says quietly, "Colonel Kamarov to Command."

A moment later, Harry's voice comes over. "Hear you loud and clear, Colonel. What's your status?"

"The team has split to pursue both targets. Estimate 5 minutes to target," Colonel Kamarov says.

"Understood, Colonel. Good luck," Harry responds before cutting off the transmission.

Kamarov returns his radio to his pack and continues ahead.

A few minutes later, he raises his fist, and the men behind him come to a halt.

"We're here. Sergeant Mohr, find us the way out of here," Kamarov orders. Sergeant Mohr, a 25 year old German, nods and walks ahead. He doesn't have to go far before he sees the exit.

"Here," he calls quietly as he shoots up a cable and hauls himself up. The rest of the team follows him.

When the team emerges from the sewers, they find themselves just a hundred yards down the street from the target building. Quietly, but swiftly, the team makes their way down the street towards the building.

When they reach the building, they fan out on either side of the door. Kamarov looks towards Lao Cheng, a Chinese wizard who had been assigned to the team.

"Lieutenant Cheng. Can you open these?" Kamarov asks. Cheng nods as he approaches and draws his wand.

"Alohomora," Cheng whispers. And with a slight clunk, the lock opens.

Cheng chuckles. "You'd think they would've thought someone might try that and taken precautions," he says amidst his chuckles. A few more members of the squad chuckle too.

"Quiet. We can't let them know we're here," Kamarov says. All the men quiet down.

Carefully, Cheng and Kamarov open the doors, and slips into the building. They make their way over to the elevator, and open the doors.

Once inside the elevator, Kamarov pulls out a torch and cuts a hole in the top of the elevator. Cheng gives Kamarov a boost, and the Colonel climbs up on top of the elevator car.

Kamarov reaches down and helps Cheng up. Together they help as many men as can onto the top of the car.

Once the top is full of men, Kamarov looks at two Russian soldiers, Sergeant Ivankov and Lieutenant Petchkin, and says, "You two help the rest of the men up." Kamarov and the others then fire off extension cables and begin the ascent up the elevator shaft.

Below them, Ivankov and Petchkin help the rest of the men onto the top of the car. They then fire off their own extension cable and begin the ascent themselves.

Kamarov and his group go all the way to the top of the elevator shaft. Cheng uses a spell to force the doors open, and Kamarov and the other 9 men clamber out of the shaft onto the floor.

Kamarov motions the men forward, and they head towards the staircase that will lead them to the roof. But, as Kamarov starts to come around a corner, he doubles back and hides behind the corner. The rest of the men stop abruptly behind him.

Kamarov leans around the corner, and sees the guard that made him double back, and three more guards.

He turns around and says in a very low voice, "Okay. Four guards. All armed. I'll go out and take the first one. Cheng, Mohr, and Rommel, you handle the other three." The named men nod and draw their pistols.

Kamarov draws his combat knife. He slowly steps around the corner, and creeps up behind the closest guard. He tip-toes up behind the man, then lunges. He wraps his arm around the guy's head, then uses his knife to slit the man's throat.

He doesn't die quietly. The man lets out a gurgle as he dies. This draws the attention of the other three guards. They whip around, weapons raised, and have just enough time to see Cheng, Mohr, and Rommel, all with pistols raised, before the three Spetznaz pull the trigger, and the three guards collapse.

"Move it," Kamarov orders, and the 10 Spetznaz storm towards the staircase.

Down below, the rest of the Spetznaz reach their target. A lower floor that holds the control room for the radar.

They force the elevator door open and clamber out of the elevator shaft. This time, guards are immediately waiting for them.

Taken off guard, the guards wait too long to reach for their weapons. The Spetznaz raise their assault rifles and fire, cutting down the guards before they can react. The 10 men race towards the control room, knowing their presence is no longer secret.

It doesn't take them long to find the control room. Two more guards are standing outside the door. A pair of pistol shots take them out before they realize they're in danger.

One of the Spetznaz is holding a small battering ram, and uses it to smash down the door. The Spetznaz storm into the control room. Four controllers and four guards are in the room.

The men in the room are caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Spteznaz. Three of the controllers and two of the guards are killed before they can even react. The remaining three manage to pull out their guns and return fire. But the Spetznaz are too quick. Two are hit, but the remaining three men in the room are quickly killed.

The two Spetznaz who were hit sit down, and two more work to bandage their wounds, which are not too serious.

The other six Spetznaz hurry to complete the objective. They remove small explosive charges from their packs and set them against the various consoles and computers strategically, to ensure destruction of all the equipment, while minimizing the damage outside the room and building.

Up on the top of the building, Kamarov and his squad have secured the roof. There were just two more guards, and were taken out quickly and quietly. Now, like their comrades below, they set small explosive charges against the radar antennas.

Once the charges are set, Kamarov and his men on the roof step way back, while the team below retreat to the door to the elevator. And they wait. The plan calls for the Spetznaz in both buildings to set off their charges at the same time.

As he waits, Kamarov radioes the squd in the other building. "Bravo Squad, come in."

"This is Bravo Squad. Roof and control room secure and charges are set. Standing by," replies a Korean Captain, Kim Duk Chang, who is in charge of Bravo Squad.

"Copy, Captain Chang. Proceed as planned," Kamarov says before cutting off the transmission.

The two squads wait until 2:00 AM. Then, in both buildings, the teams press the buttons on the detonators, and the charges detonate. In an instant, both buildings control rooms and antennas are destroyed.

In an EC-130 far to the east of Nagasaki, controllers monitoring radar waves coming from the city notice the biggest signals drop off their monitors. "The Spetznaz did it! Send the message!" one of the controllers yells.

The message is relayed to the cockpit. The pilot immediately radioes an E-3 Sentry on station over Hiroshima and says, "Our controllers report a loss in signal from the biggest systems! The main radars are down! The Spetznaz did it!"

"Copy that," one of the Sentry controllers replies. He passes on the message to another controller, who quickly radioes her charges and says, "Strike Force Alpha. You are cleared to advance to target. Good luck."

50 miles east of Nagasaki, a formation of 15 F-117 Nighthawks turns towards the city and throttles up. This is the first time stealth fighters have been used in combat in the war. The stealth aircraft fleet of the Air Force is comprised of F-117s, F-22s, Su-47s, and B-2s, and is still a relatively small fleet. Up until now, the entire fleet has remained in Australia, since there are still so few of them. But, when it became clear how well Nagasaki was defended, 18 of the Air Force's Nighthawks were flown to Japan to help in this operation. 15 were selected to fly on this mission.

The 15 Nighthawks are each loaded with a pair of 2,000 pound JDAM GPS guided bombs. And now, as they approach the city, they separate, each headed for their assigned targets. Their job is to take out SAM batteries around the city. For that purpose, the JDAMs they're carrying are blast-fragmenting varieties, designed to maximize blast radius.

At the spot where the Nighthawks had been hanging out, 50 miles east of Nagasaki, a squadron of F/A-18E Super Hornets sent by the Navy are circling at low altitude, waiting for any fighters that may try and go after the Nighthawks. The Super Hornet has one of the lowest radar signatures of any non-stealth fighter, and at low altitude, will be virtually undetectable at this distance.

The Nighthawks streak in towards Nagasaki at 400 miles per hour. The lead Nighthawk pilot, an American Colonel named Ken Dwelle, radioes his aircraft, "All pilots, you're cleared to attack. Retreat to the rendezvous point once your weapons are expended."

The Nighthawks fly straight for their targets. The Slytherin defenders are starting to realize something is wrong, because they're no longer getting responses from the main radar facilities. But their targeting radars are showing nothing. The crews of many SAM batteries are completely unaware that death is descending on them.

The Nighthawks line up on their targets. The SAM batteries' locations had been pinpointed by reconnaissance satellites days earlier, and their locations had been fed into the bombs before take off. Now, the Nighthawks close to two miles from their targets, and each pilot presses the pickle button. The bay doors on each Nighthawk open, and fifteen JDAMs drop. The Nighthawks immediately move on to their next targets.

One by one, the JDAMs reach their targets. Fifteen SAM batteries, each including multiple launchers, are destroyed within seconds of each other. Within a minute, fifteen more are destroyed as each Nighthawk releases its second bomb. Still undetected, the Nighthawks turn away and retreat to the rendezvous point 20 miles northeast of the city before returning to base.

The Slytherin defenders are in chaos. Their main search radars have been destroyed by saboteurs, and much of their air defense batteries have been destroyed with no warning.

As the Nighthawks retreat, Colonel Dwelle radios a message to the Sentry over Hiroshima, confirming their targets have been hit. Upon receiving the message, a Sentry controller radios out, "All forces, begin ingress."

200 miles north of Nagasaki, an Air Force strike force comprised of 40 A-10 Warthogs, 24 F-16s, and 16 Su-24s, escorted by 24 MiG-29s, turns towards Nagasaki and increased speed.

In less than an hour, the strike force is over Nagasaki. By now, 32 Slytherin fighters have arrived over the city. The MiG-29s engage them, shooting down 20 at long range, then engaging the survivors at close range with heat-seeking missiles. Only one Fulcrum is lost in the dogfight.

As the Fulcrums establish a CAP over the city, the F-16s lead the strike. They destroy the remaining air defenses, as well as the ships in the harbor.

Right behind them, the Su-24s split up. Eight head for the airport that had been built two years earlier in Nagasaki. There are 40 aircraft still on the ground. Two of the Fitters strafe two about to take off, and then the eight strike fighters proceed to bomb out the runways, leaving the aircraft intact, in hopes that the army could capture them.

The eight remaining Su-24s head for the government complexes in the city center. Two Fitters are shot down by handheld SAMs, but the remaining six successfully destroy the complexes, taking out the Slytherin leadership in the city, and a major store of weapons.

As the F-16s and Su-24s retreat, the A-10s began their attacks. Armed with 500 lb. bombs, Hydra 70 rockets, and AGM-65 Mavericks, as well as their 30mm cannons, they split up into pairs, and began fanning out to attack the Slytherin divisions protecting Nagasaki, focusing particularly on tanks.

Slytherin troops, like troops in Iraq in 1991 and Bosnia in 1995 who had been on the receiving end of what the Warthog could do, cried, and even screamed, in fear as the deadly strike fighters streaked down at them, firing their cannons or their other weapons.

In the course of 15 minutes, the A-10s destroy 200 tanks, and devastate five different divisions. One is shot down by a handheld SAM, but the remaining 39 escape.

At sunrise, the 18 Army divisions surrounding Nagasaki begin their attack. Still recovering from the heavy air strike, the Slytherin defenders find themselves pushed back into the city by the attacking Free Forces.

The commander of the Slytherin forces, a British general, realizes the hopelessness of the situation. It's not even noon when he sends message to Bill, expressing his desire to surrender. Bill orders his divisions to halt their attack, and the remaining 150,000 Slytherin troops surrender to the Free Forces.

(Tokyo, Noon on October 10)

Harry is sitting in the new Free Forces Japanese HQ, going over intelligence reports on defenses in South Korea and Taiwan, the next targets in the Free Forces' Asian campaign.

"General Potter." Harry looks up at a French intelligence Colonel that has just entered.

"Yes, Colonel?" Harry asks.

"We just received a message from General Bill Weasley. Slytherin forces in Nagasaki are surrendering," the Colonel answers.

Harry grins. "Thank you, Colonel. You may return to your station," he says. The Colonel nods, salutes, and does an about face before walking out.

Harry grins broadly as he picks up his phone. After dialing a number, he waits for a moment, before he hears, "High General Weasley speaking."

"Hey, Ron. How's the 'Spite?" Harry asks, shortening the name Warspite as a joke.

"Hey, dont make fun of my flagship!" Ron says. The two friends laugh.

"But to answer your question, she's performing like a champ. Anyway. What were you calling for?" Ron asks.

"Just got word from your older brother. Nagasaki has surrendered. Japan is completely ours," Harry says.

"Yes! At last!" Ron cheers.

"Yeah. Now we can move on to Korea and Taiwan," Harry says.

"Yeah! Well, I gotta go. Captain Cole is requesting me to come to the bridge. But, thanks for that news!" Ron says before hanging up.

Harry smiles as he sets down his phone. Phase one is done.

Japan is liberated.

* * *

 **I'll end there. I hope it wasn't too fast paced.**

 **A couple of clarifying terms. An EC-130 is an electronic warfare variant of the classic C-130. The Su-47 was a prototype stealth fighter built by Russia that has never entered production. In this reality, the Free Forces decided to carry out production of the Su-47.**

 **Also, to address the fact the Special Ops team was a Spetznaz team. In the Free Forces, there are multiple special ops teams, and all but one are named for special ops teams of major superpowers. The Army has the Rangers, the Delta Force, the Echo Force, and the Spetznaz. The Air Force has the SAS. And the Navy has the SEALs.**

 **Each Army force is trained in specific operations. The Rangers are specialized in jungle/forest combat. The Delta Force is specialized in infiltration, assassination, armed reconnaissance deep in enemy territory, and rescue/target extraction. The Spetznaz is specialized in sabotage and operations in very cold climates. And the Echo Force is kind of meant for general operations, but is mainly used in urban warfare. The SAS is specialized in paratrooper operations and airfield capture/sabotage. And the SEALs are separated into multiple teams, each of which has a specific type of mission they're trained for. You'll see all of the different SEAL teams later on.**

 **Well, until next time, please, please review, and stay tuned**.


	10. Chapter 10- Into the Fire

**Hello to all my readers. I apologize for taking so long with this update. I will try and be better about updating this story.**

 **Hope you like this chapter. Let's get to it.**

* * *

Chapter 10- Into the Fire

(December 8, 2008)

Ron stares out from the observation deck of the _Warspite_ , at the coast of Luzon.

It's been a very hectic last few months. After the fall of Nagasaki, The Free Forces had not waited long to make their next moves. On October 25, 5 Marine Divisions landed on Okinawa. Three days later, the last defenders on the island surrendered.

The Free Forces had then made their next move. On Halloween, Marines had landed on the north-western coast of Taiwan. Just days later, on November 4, they had engaged Slytherin forces in the Battle of Taipei. This battle had been costly for the Free Forces, with almost 40,000 Allied casualties. But, it had also resulted in the capture of almost 35,000 prisoners, and broken the Slytherin defenses on Taiwan, as most of the defenders had been brought from across the island nation to defend the capitol. With the defeat at Taipei, the Slytherin army in Taiwan was shattered. The final defenders surrendered just a week later in Taichung City.

With the Japanese mainland, Okinawa, and Taiwan now in the hands of the Free Forces, the Free Forces took a temporary break. The Japan, Okinawa, and Taiwan campaigns had resulted in just over 100,000 Allied casualties, wounded, dead, and missing, mostly among the Marine Corps. Harry had ordered that the Free Forces cease hostilities for a brief time while they planned their next move, and to give time for the combat-weary Marines that had fought so far to be returned to Australia, and fresh divisions be brought out for the next phase of the Asian campaign.

In late November, the decision was made. The next target would be the Philippines. Many generals argued that Korea should be the next target, as it was co close to Japan. But, Harry and others argued that their air presence in Japan was enough to protect against air attacks from Korea. Also, the capture of the Philippines would eliminate a serious threat to a planned invasion of Indonesia set for February, which would give the Free Forces access to vital resources, especially oil.

The Free Forces immediately began preparing for the operation, codenamed Operation Musketeer IV. 10 Marine Divisions began training on Okinawa and Taiwan for the operation. A fleet centered around 3 carriers, 4 battleships, and 40 cruisers, destroyers, and frigates was assembled to escort the Marines to the Philippines and provide support.

The fleet had set sail from Taiwan on December 1. They had arrived off the coast of the island of Luzon around midnight the previous night. Now, it is past 8 AM local time on the 8th. Ron found it interesting that they were going to begin the invasion of the Philippines on the 67th anniversary of the day that the Japanese invaded the Philippines in WWII.

Ron checks his watch. 8:15. He gets on the radio and says, "Send out the orders. Begin the bombardment."

Ron's orders are conveyed, and within minutes, the _Warspite_ , the _Bismark_ , the _Dauntless_ , and the _New Jersey_ all open fire on the landing beaches, located just west of the town of Santa Ana on the northern coast of Luzon.

For 45 minutes, the four battleships shell the landing beaches. Then, all at once, the bombardment ceases.

As soon as the bombardment ceases, the first landing boats, hanging about a mile offshore, begin moving towards the landing beaches. To their surprise, no fire comes their way as they make their way towards the landing beach.

The Marines of the 13th New Zealand Marine Division are the first to hit the beach. As the ramps lower, the Marines race ashore, weapons at the ready. But still, no fire comes their away.

The Marines slow down a bit, waiting for more of the men to come ashore. More of the 13th are soon coming ashore, as well as men of the 20th English Marine Division.

As the number of men on the beach reach 20,000, the commander of the 13th, Colonel Jack Short, orders the advance off the beach and inland. The Marines start moving inland and moving off the beach. Colonel Short, from his position on a small boat just off shore, is starting to wonder what's going on. Intelligence has shown that at least 300,000 troops are holding the Philippines, and about half of those troops are on Luzon alone.

Colonel Short's thoughts on the matter are cut short when a series of massive explosions suddenly tear apart the back of the beach. Within moments, almost 3,000 men are killed. The formation on the beach dissolves into chaos, especially when a hail of rifle fire begins to cut down more of the Marines.

Colonel Short curses. He realizes now the defender's plan. Laying large land mines at the back of the beach and waiting to detonate them to allow maximum casualties. And in the confusion from the explosions, begin firing at the men on the beach.

The Marines on the beach are in total confusion. Many retreat back towards the landing boats, hoping to use them as shelter from which to strike back. Others drop to the ground, trying to avoid the incoming rifle fire.

Colonel Short radioes back out to the fleet. "This is Colonel Short, 13th Division. My men are under attack. Heavy casualties! We need air support immediately!" he shouts over the radio.

There's an agonizing silence of about 15 seconds before the colonel hears a response, "This is _FFS Independence_. We're vectoring 4 Super Hornets in your direction. They'll be there in 40 seconds."

"Understood," Colonel Short replies.

The next 40 seconds are agonizing as Short watches the battle unfolding on the beach. As he waits, he radioes the LSTs and orders, "Send in the tanks. We need to get those Lions on that beach!" Landing boats quickly swerve away from the LSTs and begin moving towards the beach, each carrying a Lion battle tank and a large howitzer.

Finally, the Super Hornets arrive over the landing beach. Two climb to 5,000 feet, while the others line up for passes against the Slytherin positions, each coming from opposite directions.

The first two Super Hornets streak low over the Slytherin lines, unleashing volleys of Zuni rockets. The rockets rain down on Slytherin lines, disrupting their formation. The Super Hornets pull up out of their runs, and the second pair line up to make their runs.

Now realizing their danger, several Slytherin troops loose off SA-16 shoulder launched SAMs. One of the Super Hornets pulls out of its run early to avoid a missile. The other Super Hornet just manages to roll to avoid it, then again drops its nose and drops two Mark 77 incendiary bombs. The bombs burst when they hit, spewing its burning content across Slytherin lines, incinerating dozens of troops instantly.

The second Super Hornet in the pair circles back around to make a second try. The pilot centers himself, then also drops two Mark 77 bombs. Again, dozens of soldiers are incinerated on impact, with many more suffering serious burns.

The Super Hornets circle, looking for more targets. As they do, the first tank landing boats hit the beach, and 5 Lion tanks roll out onto the beach. Immediately, their gunners take aim on the few spots where fire can be seen coming from and open fire. Five explosions follow, accompanied by a sharp decrease in the amount of fire being sent at the Marines.

With the attacks distracting the defenders, the Marines regroup and resume their charge up the beach. It quickly becomes clear that the attacks by the Super Hornets and tanks did not kill as many defenders as they hoped, as there is still a lot of fire coming their way. But more Marines have landed, and these reinforcements give the Marines formation enough men to charge right through the defending fire. The troops regularly radio particularly heavy pockets of resistance out to Colonel Short, who in turn radios them to the Super Hornets, which subject the spots to strafing attacks.

Finally, at about noon, all remaining pockets of Slytherin resistance cease fire and retreat further inland. Colonel Short radios out to Ron aboard the _Warspite_ that the Marines are in possession of the beach.

The buildup on the beach moves forward. By the end of the day, 8 divisions are ashore. However, casualties have been heavy. A total 4,212 Marines were lost on this first day of the invasion, with another 2,500 wounded. Almost 2 regiments worth of men combined.

Ron is going over these figures in his quarters aboard the _Warspite_ that night. He's already preparing for the capture of the town of Santa Ana in two days. He's already dispatched the _Bismark_ and _New Jersey_ to begin bombarding the Slytherin positions around the town in preparation for the attack.

"Sir!" Ron hears as he's going over the reports, and he looks up to see one of the _Warspite_ 's intelligence officers, a Korean, standing in the doorway.

"Yes, Commander?" he asks.

"We received reports just an hour. We have a major reinforcement operation going on by the enemy. They're bringing troops into the Philippines en masse by boat and by plane. Intelligence confirms a full division has already been brought to Luzon, and another division is being brought to Mindanao," the Korean Commander responds.

Ron grimaces. It was gonna be a tough fight anyways. More reinforcements is just going to make things harder.

* * *

( 2 weeks later)

Ron looks out from his field HQ as explosions from artillery shells rock the Earth several miles out ahead.

The battle for Luzon has been raging for almost two weeks. Slytherin resistance has been much greater than expected. Plans for the invasion had called for the Free Forces to have advanced all the way to Santiago by now. Instead, the Free Forces are still fighting to take the city of Tuguegarao.

Reinforcements numbering 3 divisions had come to Luzon, both from the mainland and from other islands. And their tactics were slowing down the Free Forces far more than expected. It had gotten so bad that the Marines had deployed two more divisions to Luzon, and dispatched two more aircraft carriers to provide more air support.

However, the fierce resistance on Luzon had one advantage. It drew some forces away from other islands in the Philippines. Thanks to that, Harry gave the order to go ahead with the invasion of the island of Samar ahead of schedule. Over half of Samar was now under control of the Free Forces. And a total of 4 divisions were preparing to invade the island of Leyte in a few days time.

However, Luzon was quickly becoming not only a lengthier endeavor than first thought, but costlier too. The Marines had already lost a total of 15,000 men killed or missing, with another 13,000 wounded. Already, this was costlier for the Free Forces than the Battle of Okinawa had been for the Americans, and only a quarter of the island was in Allied hands. Harry had confided in Ron he was feeling quite distraught at the level of casualties sustained so far. But everyone knew Luzon had to be taken if the invasion of Indonesia was to remain on schedule.

The fighting for Tuguegarao has now been going on for two days. Most of the city is now under Allied control, but Slytherin forces are fighting a battle of attrition, to the point where the troops have to enter every building to clear it of Slytherin troops.

"Sir!" Ron turns to see one of his intelligence officers, a Dutch colonel, walking into the room.

"What is it, Colonel?" Ron asks.

"Sir, latest report from the resistance fighters about Pinatubo," the colonel says as he hands several sheets of paper to Ron.

Ron looks at the papers, his expression grave. Shortly after their landing on Luzon, Marines had reported feeling relatively weak earthquakes. Then, Ron had received some disturbing intelligence reports from the Philippine resistance movement in southern Luzon.

The reports showed that in the last few months, and especially in the last few weeks, there had been a sharp increase in the seismic activity in the area surrounding Mount Pinatubo. Not only had the number of earthquakes sharply increased in number and intensity. Resistance fighters had also sent pictures that showed a slight swelling of the mountain at the peak, indicating rising magma beneath the surface. Not only that, but the water temperature in Lake Pinatubo at the summit has raised about 10 degrees Celsius in the last few months.

This increase in activity at Mount Pinatubo has been of deep concern to Ron and other Free Forces leaders, particularly those who are from the Philippines. Those from the Philippines well remember the volcano's violent eruption in 1991. Particularly the damage caused to Clark Air Force Base and the aircraft stored there.

The Free Forces were a little confused as to how the volcano had become so active so fast. There were some who believed that Voldemort's forces may have been stoking the volcano, hoping that an eruption would slow down the Free Forces. Some reports from the Philippine resistance have seemed to support this theory, but geologists have expressed skepticism.

Ron looks over the reports. They're particularly ominous. Seismographs show a near continuous shaking, with half a dozen distinct earthquakes in the last 10 hours, including 3 over magnitude 5. The mountain's summit has swelled almost a meter since the last report. Even more ominous are several pictures of the volcano, which show a small ash cloud trailing out of the lava dome in the middle of Lake Pinatubo.

Ron stares at the pictures and the seismographs. Finally, he looks up at the intelligence Colonel and says, "Dispatch orders to all forces on Luzon. Alert all Marine commanders that Pinatubo's activity is increasing and prepare for a possible eruption and fallout. Alert air forces at Laoag International Airport and Paredes Air Station. Put all aircraft on standby alert. I want all aircraft ready to take off with a few minutes warning until further notice. Send a warning out to the fleet as well. And send word to the resistance. I want them to maintain a constant surveillance on the volcano, and ensure I have a constant live feed of the volcano here in my office."

The Colonel walks out of the office to issue the orders. Within a few hours, a live feed of Mount Pinatubo is being fed onto one of the monitors in Ron's office.

For the next 24 hours, things are tense. The fighting for Tuguegarao is still ongoing, with the Free Forces now holding about two thirds of the city, and with Slytherin defenses beginning to crumble. But, the attention of Ron and his staff has not been as much on Tuguegarao, but more on Mount Pinatubo. The seismic activity around the volcano has intensified greatly, and the ash cloud emerging from the summit has nearly doubled in size. The swell of the summit has also grown.

Now, in mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, Ron is looking over some battle reports from the commanders in Tuguegarao when one of his aides calls out, "General!"

Ron's head shoots up, and his eyes instantly lock onto the screen displaying Mount Pinatubo. Rocks are tumbling down the summit, and it's clear a major earthquake is happening at the moment. The ash cloud is growing bigger.

Ron slowly stands up straighter, staring intently at the screen. The eyes of everyone in the room are glued to the screen, watching as the mountain continues to shake. Then, sections of the peak give way, and everyone watches as the summit of Pinatubo is blown apart as a massive ash cloud explodes into the air.

Ron stares in amazement as the ash cloud continues to grow exponentially, and the first pyroclastic flows begin surging down the side of the volcano. The ground continues shaking, the shaking growing more intense.

For a few moments, Ron just stares at the screen, getting his first sight of an erupting volcano. Then, he turns to his staff and says in a raised voice, "Send orders to all forces. All ground forces are to disengage from hostile actions and seek shelter. All Navy aircraft in Luzon airspace are to return to their carriers immediately, and no more Navy aircraft are to enter Luzon airspace. All Air Force aircraft on the ground are to scramble immediately and head for Okinawa or Taiwan, along with all aircraft currently airborne. All Marine Corps aircraft are to head for any available carrier, or for Taiwan."

Men and women in the room spring into action, hurrying to get the necessary orders out to all forces. While they know they have hours before ash and other volcanic material begins falling on Free Forces occupied territory, every minute can count, particularly for the aircraft.

In Toguegarao, the Marines pull back a bit and begin taking shelter in whatever structures they can. At Laoag International Airport and Paredes Air Station, aircrews race to their aircraft. Within minutes, lines of aircraft are moving across the tarmac, with each aircraft taking off as soon as they reach the runway. Air Force aircraft already airborne are already headed north towards Taiwan and Okinawa, and all airborne Navy aircraft are headed back towards their carriers.

Within an hour, all Navy aircraft are back aboard their carriers. Most Marine aircraft have found carriers to land on, and the rest have headed north to Taiwan with the Air Force's aircraft. The few aircraft left behind due to not being fully airworthy have been moved into hangars believed to be strong enough to protect them from the ashfall.

A few hours later, the ashfall begins across northern Luzon. Thankfully, the Marines on the island have taken shelter. As the ashfall continues, it begins to be clear just how heavy it's going to be. The Marines begin to hunker down and prepare for an extensive period of inactivity.

On Voldemort's side, leaders begin to realize the extent of the eruption. They had indeed used underground explosions in an attempt to stoke the volcano into erupting. However, they had not expected an eruption of this size. And so, like the Free Forces, the Slytherin commanders order their troops to hunker down and be ready to wait out the eruption.

The eruption lasts for almost 6 hours. For about two weeks after the eruption, combat on Luzon grinds to a complete halt as troops on both side stay under cover to avoid the ashfall. It's not until about two weeks after the eruption that equipment is able to begin clearing the ash and debris enough to enable troops to resume combat operations.

Filipino Marines lead the way as the Free Forces move to complete the capture of Toguegarao. As many of them lived on Luzon back in 1991, they are experienced in dealing with fallout from an eruption of Mount Pinatubo. With the Filipino Marines leading the way, the Free Forces are able to complete the capture of Toguegarao on January 9, 2009.

The fallout from Mount Pinatubo continues to prove a bit of a hindrance as the Free Forces continue their push south, especially as it is a major obstacle to aircraft operation. Given the amount of volcanic material still in the air, air operations are mostly restricted to attack helicopters operating at very low altitude.

But, the effects of Mount Pinatubo's eruption is not enough to stop the might of the Free Forces. Under Ron's leadership, they continue their march south towards the Philippine capitol, Manila.

* * *

 **I'll end there. I hope this chapter wasn't too bad. I always intended to do a battle for Luzon chapter, and I came up with the idea for an eruption of Mount Pinatubo while writing the chapter. In reality, Mount Pinatubo hasn't erupted since 1993.**

 **The name Operation Musketeer IV is a reference to the WWII Allied liberation of the Philippines, which had three different parts codenamed Operation Musketeer I, Operation Musketeer II, and Operation Musketeer III.**

 **Current plan for next chapter is for the fall of Manila and liberation of the Philippines.**


	11. Chapter 11- Manila & the Marine

**Alright everybody. Here we go. In this chapter, we're gonna cover the fall of Manila to the Free Forces. Not only that, but we're gonna see a few celebrity servicemen in this chapter. One is hinted at by the chapter title.**

 **Alright. Let's get to it!**

* * *

Chapter 11- Manila and the Marine

(February 10, 2009)

Ron tightly grips his desk as an artillery explosion shakes his headquarters. Out of the window ahead of him, he can see the skyscrapers of Quezon City and Manila rising against the skyline.

It's been two months since the invasion of the Philippines began. The liberation has been more difficult than anticipated. The Free Forces have sustained over 80,000 casualties so far. But now, all the major islands of the Philippines, and many of the minor islands, are all under Free Forces control. Manila is now the last remaining Slytherin stronghold in the Philippines.

And Manila has been fiercely defended. Free Forces intelligence put at least 10 divisions, maybe as many as 13, defending the city. Slytherin leaders know they can't hold Manila forever. Their goal at this point is just to slow down the Free Forces, and keep as many forces as they can tied down to Manila, and away from the impending invasion of Indonesia, due to be launched on February 15.

From the very beginning of Operation Musketeer IV, Free Forces leaders knew Manila was going to be a tough nut to crack. More and more forces were diverted to the Philippines to prepare for the eventual attack on the city while still continuing the liberation of the other islands.

The buildup of forces around Manila had begun a week ago, on February 3. That same day, a force of 5 battleships, 1 light cruiser, and 20 destroyers, led by Admiral Scott Swift, an American, aboard the _Bismark_ begun a bombardment of the Slytherin forces around Manila. The bombardment has continued on and off for the last seven days, as forces built up around Manila. By February 7, all 10 divisions of the 1st and 5th Corps, including several new divisions fresh from Australia, and 5 divisions of the 3rd Army, had surrounded the city.

The attack began in afternoon of the 7th, when tanks of the 5th Corps began firing on Slytherin artillery positions in the outer neighborhoods of Quezon City, followed by a push by two Marine divisions into the north part of Quezon City.

So far, the Marines have managed to seize about half of Quezon City, and the 5 divisions from the 3rd Army are pushing towards Manila from the east, and are moving into Pasig at the moment.

Ron's headquarters are in the northern outskirts of Quezon City. It had originally been located far enough from enemy lines to be out of harm, but a Slytherin counterattack has pushed back Free Forces lines close enough to Ron's headquarters to put it right at the edge of Slytherin artillery fire. Men of the 19th Russian Marine Divison are currently fighting fiercely to stop the Slytherin counterattack and drive them back

The building shudders again, this time as four F/A-18s streak past the building to begin attack runs on the Slytherin divisions pushing against the 19th. Ron watches as several cluster bombs fall from the Hornets, sending their bomblets across the Slytherin troops and decimating a few battalions.

Ron allows himself a small smile. The Slytherin forces may be fighting well, but they can't hold forever. It's only a matter of time.

* * *

An artillery shell lands about 20 yards away. Marine First Lieutenant John Cena of the 21st American Marine Division ducks down behind a broken car to avoid shrapnel.

A Hornet streaks overhead to make a strafing pass. A shoulder launched SAM streaks up and hits the Hornet, blowing it's wing. The fighter spins out of the sky and crashes right into the Slytherin front lines, scattering Slytherin troops and breaking their lines.

"Go! Go! Go!" John shouts, waving his men forward. The Marines jump out of their cover, racing down the street towards the Slytherin lines. A squad of Marines armed with M4s equipped with M203 grenade launchers fire their grenade launchers, and a series of small explosions tear into the Slytherin troops.

John jumps behind a damaged car, then pops his head up and fires his M4. Two Slytherin troops fall from the burst.

The Slytherin troops begin to rally and form into a tighter line. John reaches for his radio. "Lieutenant John Cena of the 21st Division. We need a close air support strike on enemy lines south of our position. I'm going to mark our position with an orange smoke grenade."

"Copy. We'll divert some assets to your position. 30 seconds out," the controller on the other end replies.

John waits as the tense seconds pass, while he and his Marines fire off their assault rifles at the Slytherin lines. 20 seconds after receiving the reply, John takes out an orange smoke grenade, pulls the pin, then tosses it a few yards down the street towards the Slytherin lines. He waits a few more tense seconds, then he hears the most welcome sound a soldier can hear. The distinctive sound of the engines of an A-10 Warthog.

A second later, a formation of three Warthogs streak overhead, led by Lieutenant Colonel Ethan Hawke. Hawke streaks ahead of his two wingmen, lining up on the Slytherin lines and firing a three second burst from his cannon, killing dozens of men and destroying three artillery pieces. The other two Warthogs follow Hawke's lead and drop 500 lb. bombs on the Slytherin positions. The explosions scatter the Slytherin troops, and create a perfect opportunity for the Marines.

"Charge!" John bellows. And with that, his men jump up and charge straight towards the Slytherin lines. Scattered rifle fire comes their way, but the charging Marines are unstoppable. Like a spear, the Marines pierce right through the center of the Slytherin formation.

As the Slytherin formation is divided in half, they start to crumble and retreat. A formation of 8 M1 tanks come up to support the Marines, and under their fire the Slytherin formation breaks apart and retreats under the American assault, especially as Lieutenant Colonel Hawke and his wingmen come in to strafe them, causing many more casualties among the Slytherin formation.

"Captain Philippe!" John calls out. Within moments, Captain Ryan Philippe races over to John's position.

"Lieutenant Cena," Ryan says in greeting.

"We need to get some more tanks in here. The Slytherins may be retreating, but they're bound to try and bring up some reinforcements," John says.

"I agree," Ryan replies with a nod.

"We need to get some reconnaissance up here too. We need advance warning if the Slytherins send up any reinforcements," John says.

Ryan nods. He quickly gets on the radio and requests a Global Hawk recon drone be sent to the 21st Division's position.

The Global Hawk soon arrives as most of the Marines are digging in as their lead battalions are driving back the rest of the Slytherin formation. A minute later, the recon officers in Ron's headquarters radio the 21st Division's commander, Colonel Alexander Washington, to report a Slytherin division about a mile and a half south of the American lines, and heading to reinforce their comrades. Washington responds quickly, requesting further air support, as well as gunfire support from the Navy.

Thankfully, just off the coast, only about 6 miles from the Slythering division, is the _Dauntless_ -class battleship _Prince of Wales_. A minute after Colonel Washington sends out the call, the 16 inch guns of the _Prince of Wales_ open fire, hurling shells at the Slytherin positions. The _Prince of Wales_ fires 10 salvos at the Slytherin division, as well as 87 shells from her secondary battery. The Slytherin division dissolves into chaos.

Almost as soon as the _Prince of Wales_ stops firing, a formation of 6 F-4 Phantoms flying out of Clark Air Force Base arrives to commence runs on the Slytherin formation. Armed with their cannons, rockets pods, Maverick missiles, and napalm, the Phantoms dive on the Slytherin troops. Anti-aircraft fire damages one and forces the pilot to break away and head for the nearest airfield. The remaining five cause heavy damage, destroying 10 tanks, 8 artillery pieces, and wiping out a full battalion.

The effects of the bombardment by the _Prince of Wales_ and the attacks by the Phantoms devasate the Slytherin division. Enough that by the time they reach their troubled comrades, the division has been reduced to just two regiments.

The Marines of the 21st Division continue their push south, with Slytherin resistance not strong enough anymore to stop them. At the same time, miles away, the 19th Russian Marine Division receives reinforcements in the form of 27 T-90 tanks, followed by two regiments from the 33rd Chinese Marine Division. With these reinforcements, the Russians are able to drive the Slytherin counterattack back.

With his troops in open retreat in two place, the Slytherin commander decides to pull his troops in Quezon City back to form a tighter line. The move is a good one, but the Free Forces take advantage of the retreat to attack them from behind, causing heavy casualties among the units in the rear of the retreat.

From his headquarters, Ron monitors the retreat with grim satisfaction. The Slytherin defense is crumbling, and it won't be long before Manila falls.

* * *

(February 13)

John raises his assault rifle and fires a brief burst, cutting down two Slytherin troops. He's about to fire again when a shell from an M1 lands amidst the Slytherin troops ahead, killing many of them.

"Move!" he shouts, and his men continue their advance. Finally, after days of fighting, they're finally entering downtown Manila.

The Slytherin defense had continued to be very strong since the retreat. However, due to the increasing ferocity of Marine attacks, the Slytherins had diverted several divisions north to stop them, and away from the 3rd Army's advance. Unknown to the Slytherins, the Army had been diverting further units of the 3rd Army to Manila. Not long after the Slytherin divisions had been diverted north, the 30th Australian Division and 55th Indian Division, which had engaged in occupation duties in the southern part of the island, rejoined the rest of 3rd Army and launched a massive attack against the Slytherin lines. Without the help of the extra forces that had been sent north, the Slytherin defenses crumbled under the assault, and in the scramble to fight back and get reinforcements to stop the 3rd Army, the 1st and 5th Corps doubled their efforts, and the Slytherin forces fell back towards Manila itself.

Much of the fighting is going on in the outer parts of Manila, but the 19th and 21st Divisions had led a spearhead attack deep into Manila, and the 21st Divisions is now on the verge of capturing the city center and the government complexes.

"We need air support!" John shouts over his radio. Only 10 seconds later, 2 F-15E Strike Eagles dive to the attack and drop 1,000 lb bombs on a formation of Slytherin troops heading up the road towards the American Marines. Another round of shelling causes further chaos among the Slytherin lines.

"We have an opening. Let's move!" John shouts, and the Marines race forward.

Slytherin troops fall quickly under the American assault. At the same time, two blocks east, lead elements of the 19th push against Slytherin lines, who are forced to fall back under the relentless Russian attack.

Finally, John's men push out onto the square outside the main government complex. A formation of 4 Mi-24 Hinds race in and blast Slytherin tanks parked in front of Manila City Hall, leaving the last Slytherin defense to the building crippled. John leads his men as they charge straight for the building.

Bursting in, the Marines open fire, cutting down the guards in entryway. John leads his men up to the next floor. He and twenty other men burst into a major conference room, where General Hui, the commander of the Slytherin forces in Manila, along with the provisional President of the Philippines and City Mayor of Manila, both puppets of Voldemort.

"Down on the ground!" John bellows loudly. The Mayor and President, along with their aides, quickly get on their knees. The four guards in the room raise their weapons, but are quickly shot down by John's Marines.

John points his assault rifle right at General Hui. "Down on the ground, now, General," he says fiercely. After a moment, Hui slowly raises his hands and gets down on his knees.

"Cuff 'em," John says. More Marines race into the room, and begin cuffing the men in the room and taking them out of the building to be airlifted to Ron's headquarters.

At the same time, John radios Colonel Washington, informing him that they have captured City Hall, General hui, and the remaining government officials. The Colonel passes this message on to Ron's headquarters. Once he receives the information, Ron immediately orders a message be broadcast to Slytherin forces about their leaders being captured and ordering their surrender. With City Hall, and thereby access to the Slytherin lines of communication, in Free Forces hands, this becomes much easier. Slyhterin forces throughout the city begin to surrender, and by the end of the day, all Slytherin forces have surrendered.

The battle of Manila is finally over, after 7 days of fighting, and 14 days after the bombardment against Manila began. The cost has been great. The Free Forces suffered heavy casualties, with 9,678 killed or missing, 32,530 wounded, and 27 aircraft shot down. Voldemort's forces lost 62,439 killed, 101,234 wounded, and 80,450 taken prisoner, with 45 aircraft shot down, and 12 captured.

But the victory is monumental. With the fall of Manila, the Philippines are fully under Allied control, clearing the way for attacks against more of the Pacific Islands. Two days after the fall of Manila, Marines land on the Indonesian island of Java. This is followed up within the next two weeks with landings on more Indonesian islands, as well as the beginning of the invasions of Malaysia, Singapore, and the Solomon Islands. Further invasions, including the invasions of Samoa, Fiji, and the remaining islands of Melanesia and Micronesia are planned for March.

With the islands of the Pacific rapidly falling under Allied control, the Free Forces are almost ready to begin the next phase of their assault. The assault on mainland Asia, starting with the invasion of Korea.

* * *

 **I'll end there.**

 **I hope you liked this chapter, and our celebrity servicemen. I just had to include John Cena as a member of the Marines. As for our other two celebrity servicemen, Ethan Hawke played an Air Force pilot in the movie Good Kill, and Ryan Philippe played one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers in the movie Flags of our Fathers. Also, for the other serviceman named, Admiral Scott Swift, was the last Commander of the US Pacific Fleet before the current Commander took command in 2018**

 **Not sure when the next chapter will be up, or what it will feature, but it will probably feature either the initial invasion of Korea, or maybe a Special Forces raid soon after the invasion. Let me know what you'd like to see, as well as more celebrities you'd like to see in the military.**

 **Alright. I'll try to update soon. Until then, stay tuned, and please review.**


	12. Chapter 12- The Deltas

**Alright, everybody. Back with another chapter. Sorry it took me so long to get this up. I've been focusing on my Arrowverse-MCU stories, and I lost what I written of this story a while back, so I had to re-write it. I promise to upload more often.**

 **This one is gonna be a little different. Instead of a large battle this is gonna be completely about a special forces raid. It took me a little bit to decide exactly how this chapter should go, and the purpose of the raid, but I feel satisfied with what I'm doing with this chapter.**

 **Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Chapter 12- The Deltas

(July 15, 2009)

It's a relatively peaceful night in South Korea. Despite the chaos beginning to embrace the country.

After completing their conquest of the Pacific Islands in mid April, the Free Forces had moved ahead with their invasion of Korea. On June 22, the 11th Corps landed in Jangheung in the southernmost part of South Korea. The initial invasion met with great success, with almost all of the South Jeolla province now under the control of the Free Forces. However, reinforcements streaming down south had halted the Allied advance.

The Free Forces are moving more divisions into South Jeolla, while preparing for a landing at Busan. However, they had also been looking for other ways to strike a blow at Voldemort and bolster South Korean morale to fight back.

They had found the perfect opportunity to do so. Free Forces intelligence agents had found the fomer South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, who had been held prisoner by Voldemort and kept under threat to keep the South Koreans in line, and was currently being held at a secret facility just north of the city of Jinju.

The Free Forces knew that freeing Jung would be a major boost to South Korean morale, and possibly inspire greater resistance from the South Koreans still under Voldemort's rule. And so, the biggest special forces assault since the Spetsnaz operation in Nagasaki was set in motion.

The Delta Force was selected for this operation. A full Delta Force team, 44 men total, were dispatched from Japan to South Korea, along with 4 new variant MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, special forces versions of the Black Hawk.

The team had spent the last two days preparing for this assault. Now, late at night on the 15th of May, the operation has begun.

The MH-60s, carrying the full Delta Force team, had sneaked past enemy lines in the northern part of South Jeolla province a few minutes earlier. Once they got past the main Slytherin lines, they altered course slightly south, heading towards the facility near Jinju.

The Free Forces have been concerned about air defenses engaging the Black Hawks, due to the large number of surface-to-air missiles that had been spotted moving south towards the front lines. For that reason, the Free Forces selected this mission for the combat debut of the F-22 Raptor. Eight F-22s have been detailed to protect the helicopters, and are equipped with 8 250 lb bombs to deal with any air defenses interfering with the operation. The Raptors are flying just behind the helicopters at 40,000 feet.

In the lead Black Hawk, the team leader, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Simpson, an American, cocks his assault rifle and looks around at the rest of his men in the back of the chopper. "Alright, everybody. This is it. We've trained for years for a moment like this. So let's get this done." He is met with nods from his men.

"5 minutes out," each pilot calls out. In each helicopter, the commandos check their weapons and make sure everything is ready to go.

The plan calls for three of the helicopters to land just outside the wall of the compound and let out their commandos to storm the compound from the ground, while the fourth will hover over the main building to allow its commandos to fast-rope down to the roof.

The commandos wait anxiously as the helicopters approach their target. Knowing that a small Slytherin airfield is just 15 minutes flying time away from the compound, this is going to have to be a very fast raid.

"60 seconds. Get ready," the helicopter pilots call out. The commandos stand up from where they had been sitting, waiting anxiously as the helicopters approach the compound.

The helicopters separate. The one carrying the commandos assigned to fast-rope into the compound pulls ahead, while the other three hang back and separate to surround the compound. Lt. Colonel Simpson's helicopter is one of the three.

The commandos watch out the window as the compound approaches. Then, just about 30 yards away from the compound, the three helicopters stop and lower to the ground.

"Move!" Simpson orders his men in a quiet voice, and he and the 10 other Deltas in the helicopter storm out and race towards the compound. 22 more Deltas emerge from the other two helicopters as the fourth helicopter stops over the main building and the men aboard emerge and begin lowering towards the roof.

The three squads on the ground reach the walls of the compound. Most of the men hang back as two men from each squad hurry up with large charges designed to blow open a hole in the wall. After attaching it and setting the timer, they hop back out of the way. Seconds later, all three charges go off simultaneously, blowing open holes in the wall about 6 feet wide.

"Move!" Simpson orders, and the 33 Deltas on the ground storm through the breaches in the wall. Simpson, leading his squad through the breach, spots two guards right ahead of them. With two shots from his HK416 assault rifle, he kills them both.

On the roof, all 11 Deltas from the fourth helicopter are on the roof. A large door, pretty much a trap door, leads down into the main building. One of the commandos has an acetylene torch, and quickly cuts the lock on the door. Another man throws the door open, and the Deltas descend into the building.

Down in the courtyard of the compound, the Deltas on the ground separate. Two of the 11 man squads move towards the side buildings, while Lt. Col. Simpson leads his squad towards the main building. Of course, the door is locked, but one of the men laces a small charge around the doorknob, blowing the lock off. Simpson kicks the door in, and the squad storms into the building.

In one of the side buildings, a young French captain named Charles Lapointe leads his men inside. To their surprise, only guard is in the building. One of the commandos drops him with a single shot.

Looking around, Lapointe sees they haven't found the President, but they've still hit the jackpot. Several laptops, files and documents, and thumb drives are lying around the room. Lapointe knows immediately they could provide very valuable intelligence.

"Alright, men. I want all of this. Grab it and let's hightail it back to the helicopter," he orders in accented English. The other ten men hurry to gather anything they can.

Inside the other side house, the squad leader, a Major from South Africa named Fabian Theron, smashes down the door and the squad bursts in. One guard, already alerted by the sounds outside, is holding an AK-47. As soon as the squad smashes down the door, the guard raises his weapon. He fires right at the moment Theron does. One bullet grazes Theron's shoulder, but Theron's shot hits the guard in the face. Theron's men raise their weapons and fire at other guards in the house.

Back in the main building, Lt. Col. Simpson's squad and the squad that landed on the roof, commanded by a Major from the US named Jack Hudson, are moving towards each other, cutting off any route of escape for the people in the building. Several of Simpson's commandos remain on the bottom floor to clear the rooms as Simpson leads his men up the stairs. Hudson leaves two of his men on the top floor to clear it.

As he climbs the stairs, Simpson sees a guard appear on the stairs a flight up. A single shot takes him out, causing him to fall down the stairs.

Simpson wants to call out to Hudson's squad, but knows he can't alert anyone still not aware of their presence, or draw enemies towards them. Simpson's squad reaches the second floor and moves to clear it. Multiple guards quickly open fire on them, but are no match for the highly trained Deltas.

Hudson's men race down the stairs to the fifth floor and smash down the doors leading off the stairwell. Only two guards are on the fifth floor, and after dispatching them, Hudson leaves two of his men to clear the floor and leads the remaining six down to the fourth floor.

As soon as Hudson reaches the fourth floor, he and his men immediately come under fire. He dashes back out of the way, then points his rifle around the corner and fires off a burst. Two guards are killed by the bullets, and the brief lull in the fire created by the distraction gives Hudson the opportunity to leap back into view. He fires his HK416, killing several more guards.

"Move!" He calls to his men, and the six other Deltas follow their squad leader down onto the fourth floor.

More guards race out of a room and fire at them, hitting one of the Deltas in the arm. The seven men take cover behind whatever they can find.

As he waits for the firing to die down, Hudson grins to himself. So far as he knows, this is the most guards the assault team has faced, and that can mean only one thing. Their target is on this floor.

It takes a few seconds before the guards stop firing to reload. They try and dodge out of the way to avoid return fire from the Deltas while they reload. But the Deltas extremely fast reaction times gives them the edge. Several guards are cut down by return fire from the Deltas. Hudson leaps out of his hiding place and races towards the spots where some of the guars ducked back to hide, drawing his combat knife. As he leaps into view, he stabs one of them in the chest.

Three guards try and take him on. But, Hudson is known in the Delta Force as being one the most skilled at hand to hand combat. Easily deflecting or dodging their blows, Hudson slits the throat of one of them, stabs another through the eye, the slices off the hand of the third before knocking his head into the wall and knocking him out cold.

The remaining six Deltas take advantage of the distraction to take out the remaining guards. Once they've confirmed all the guards are dead, the Deltas hurry over to the room where the guards came from. They all look at each other silently before one of the men smashes down the door and they race into the room.

The Deltas stop quickly. There are two guards in the room, along with President Jung. One the guards is smiling sadistically as he points a gun at President Jung's head.

"Drop the gun and step away from him," Hudson growls as he aims his assault rifle at the guard pointing his gun at President Jung.

"And lose our only leverage. I don't think so. Lower your weapons or he dies," the guard responds.

The Deltas hold firm for a few seconds. Then, they slowly lower their weapons.

Unknown to them, across the courtyard, on the roof of the second side building, a member of Major Theron's team had spotted President Jung and his captors moments earlier. Now, with a sniper rifle aimed at the first guard's head, he pulls the trigger. The bullet hits the guard in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

Major Hudson reacts instantly, raising his HK416 and gunning down the second guard. One of the commandos hurries forward to release the South Korean president from his bonds.

"It's alright, Mr. President. You're safe now. We're getting you out of here," the commando says as he releases the President and helps him to his feet.

"Alright. Move out," Hudson orders, then leads his men back to the stairwell. As they begin ascending the stairs, Hudson breaks the communications silence and uses his radio to call the rest of the team. "Target located and freed. All units withdraw."

Within moments of receiving that communication, the remaining three squads turn around and race back to their helicopters, still waiting outside.

As the commandos return to the helicopters, high above, the leader of the F-22s, Major Paul Moga, is monitoring the situation. Suddenly, his radar begins to beep. Looking down, he sees two contacts racing towards the area at high speed.

Breaking radio silence as well, Major Moga radioes his wingman and says, "Chris, we got bogeys inbound. You're cleared to engage."

Major Moga and his wingman, Captain Chris Bragg, turn towards the incoming bandits, which their IFF systems identify as a pair of MiG-29s. The two Raptor pilots lock them up at a range of 21 miles, then each pilot pulls the trigger, and with a call of "Fox Three!", two AIM-120 AMRAAMs launch. It takes the AMRAAMS a matter of seconds before they find their targets. Major Moga's AMRAAM hits the lead Fulcrum, and Captain Bragg's missile hits the wingman.

Major Moga smiles a bit as he sees the blips disappear. He and his wingman have scored the first two kills for the F-22.

Major Moga waits only a moment longer before he radioes the helicopters. "Chopprs, this is Major Moga. We just shot down two Fulcrums. More fighters are likely on the way. You need to get out of there."

"Copy. Teams are retreating. We'll be good to lift off within the next 60 seconds," the pilot of the lead Blackhawk radioes back.

As this conversation is happening, the three ground squads are retreating out of the compound walls and heading towards the helicopters. Meanwhile, Major Hudson's squad is leading President Jung up onto the roof. The cables are lowered from the chopper as they emerge onto the roof. Two of the Deltas help hook up the President, and the squad waits as he is hoisted into the Black Hawk. Only once the President is safely aboard the helicopter does the rest of the squad start hooking up and getting hoisted into the helicopter.

Within 60 seconds of Major Moga's warning, all of the Deltas, and President are safely aboard the helicopters. The three helicopters outside the walls lift off the ground, and all four of them form up and start heading north-west at high speed.

High overhead, the F-22 pilots are on high alert. A third Slytherin fighter, an F-16, was detected approaching the operation area and was blown out of the sky by the leader of the second flight. By now, Major Moga and his squadron mates know there are going to be more fighters taking off from the airfield. Due to the fact they are far faster than the Black Hawks, they remain circling over the operation area.

A few minutes after the Black Hawks exit the operation zone, Major Moga spots several radar contacts approaching from the direction of the airfield. Quickly going over the distance of the helicopters from the operation zone, and the distance to the incoming contacts, Major Moga calls out of the radio, "Jaguar Flight, break off and follow the Black Hawks. Wolf flight, you're with me."

Major Moga banks in the direction of the incoming contacts, and the other three Raptors of his flight follow him. Meanwhile, the four Raptors of Jaguar flight turn to follow the Black Hawks.

Wolf Flight separates, forming a wall of Raptors stretched across 8 miles of sky. In his cockpit, Major Moga works to gain an ID. Within seconds, his IFF system identifies the 5 incoming contacts as hostile MiG-29s.

"Fulcrums. Wolf Flight, cleared to engage," Major Moga calls on the radio. The four Raptors each lock up one of the MiG-29s, then pull the trigger and launch their AMRAAMS. 25 seconds later, four of the Fulcrums are obliterated. Realizing he's probably up against stealth fighters, the fifth Fulcrum pilot turns to escape. The four Raptor pilots choose not to follow.

They continue to circle the compound for several more minutes. Finally, the lead helicopter radioes to Major Moga, letting him know they're close enough to friendly lines. After hearing that, Major Moga reigns in his flight, and they all head back towards Free Forces territory. As the Raptors return home, Major Moga radioes an E-3 on patrol to confirm the mission is complete. The Sentry passes the message on to the submarine FFS Basilisk, which launches a pair of Tomahawk cruise missiles to level the compound.

It's still dark when the Black Hawks land at a Free Forces airfield just north-east of Jangheung. When the ground crew see all the Delta commandos emerge from the helicopters, they erupt in cheers. The cheering increases dramatically when President Jung emerges from the fourth helicopter.

The mission went perfectly to plan. Not only was it a textbook hostage rescue, but also was the combat debut for the new stealth Black Hawks and for the F-22, which now has 7 kills on its record. Also, they gained a lot of valuable intelligence on Slytherin forces and plans in the Korean peninsula. And within hours of the return of the operation forces, news of President Jung's rescue begins to spread around South Korea, breathing new hope into the nation and the struggle against Voldemort.

* * *

 **And, I'll end there. I hope you like this chapter.**

 **I know I probably could've been more detailed, but I didn't want it to be too long. Still, I'm pretty proud of it.**

 **For those of who don't know much about it, the style of the raid is partially based off of Operation Neptune Spear (the mission that killed Osama bin Laden). I watched a documentary on that mission to prepare to write this chapter. Though, obviously, it was Deltas instead of SEALs.**

 **Also, we had a real character in this. Besides President Jung. And that was Major Paul Moga. He is a real F-22 pilot, and now a Lieutenant Colonel. He's part of the F-22 demonstration team.**

 **Alright, that's it. Leave a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. And stay tuned for more.**


	13. Chapter 13- MiG Alley

**Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. This is one I'm kinda excited for, as it centers on one of my favorite things to write about: aerial combat.**

 **Let's get to it.**

* * *

Chapter 13- MiG Alley

Hermione looks out over her squadron mates. "Alright. I know we're going into hostile skies, but we need to get this done. If we don't, future airstrikes against targets along the border are going to be slaughtered." There are a number of nods.

"Alright. Get you're a**** to your jets," she says. The men all stand up and head out of the briefing room, Hermione brining up the rear.

As she heads out to where her Flanker is being prepped, Hermione reflects on the recent status of the war.

After the Free Forces succeeded in rescuing President Jung, they had continued with their efforts to liberate the Korean Peninsula. Unfortunately, it was a lot tougher than they expected. Voldemort's efforts to send troops to Asia was accelerating, and many were coming to Korea. The Allies advance began going even slower, and the battles became tougher. The battle for Seoul lasted 5 days, and was the closest that the Free Forces had come to a defeat.

Now, in early November, the Free Forces have only just successfully captured Pyongyang, and are now preparing to make the final push further into the north to finally free the Korean Peninsula. Unfortunately, they have been hampered by a new obstacle.

Back in the days of the Korean War, a stretch of sky in the northern part of North Korea became known as MiG Alley, an area where most of the dogfights between US F-86s and North Korean MiG-15s took place.

Now, Voldemort's commanders had deployed a vast number of MiG-29s and MiG-21s, with a few MiG-23s, to airbases along the North Korean-Chinese border. And once again, that area was a stretch of sky teaming with MiGs. MiG Alley had been reborn.

With the Allies having moved north out of Pyongyang days ago, most of the airstrikes against Slytherin targets were taking place in and around MiG Alley. The real air action there had begun on Halloween. In the 8 days since then, there had multiple dogfights each day in MiG Alley. So far, the tally stood at 37 to 9 in favor of the Free Forces. By now, the Air Force was abandoning most airstrikes against important targets in favor of fake airstrikes to draw out MiGs and destroy them to remove the MiG threat.

Now, on November 8, Hermione and eleven of her squadron-mates are providing fighter escort to 16 F-16s that are tasked with destroying air defenses around MiG Alley, and assist Hermione and the Flankers in destroying MiGs.

Hermione makes her way towards the awnings on the tarmac that cover the twelve Flankers. As she reaches her Flanker, she takes a minute to walk around and inspect the jet, stopping for a moment to watch the ground crew load an AA-11 Archer onto the wingtip rail on the jet's left wing. Once she is satisfied, she climbs up the ladder and slides into her cockpit, with Victor, her backseater, climbing into the backseat behind her. The two begin getting strapped in as the ground crews finish their final checks and begin powering up the jets.

Within 20 minutes, all twelve of the Flankers and all 16 of the F-16s are powered up and armed for the mission. The F-16s taxi out to the runway first, with the Su-30s following them close behind. Each of the F-16s throttles up into afterburner and take to the sky.

As soon as the last two F-16s take off, Hermione and her wingman taxi onto the runway. Hermione makes a final check, then says, "Alright, let's go." She throttles up into afterburner, and she and her wingman shoot down the runway before climbing into the sky.

The rest of the Flankers follow Hermione. They form up with the F-16s just west of the base, then they all head north towards their targets just east of the city of Sinanju.

Within an hour, the strike force is nearing Sinanju, and MiG Alley. Hermione and the rest of the Flankers are trailing the F-16s by a half mile, and flying 1,000 feet above them. Their radars are active and scanning for any enemy aircraft.

Below them, the lead F-16 pilot, an Israeli Lieutenant Colonel, issues the order for the F-16 pilots power up their HTS targeting pods and begin searching for SAM launchers.

The F-16 flights begin to separate into pairs, diving towards the ground, firing off a volley of HARMs, which destroy 13 SAM launchers and damage another. The F-16s begin to hug the ground, flying low over the terrain to search for any hidden SAM launchers or anti-aircraft guns.

The Flankers continue holding their positions at 9,000 feet, waiting for any MiGs to show themselves. They separate, with a distance of 15 miles between each flight.

As Hermione and her flight complete another rotation, she furrows her brow. "Still no MiGs. This doesn't feel right to me," she says.

"Same here," Victor responds uneasily.

"Lion Flight, descend to 6,000 feet. Power up your Archers. They may be trying to sneak in under our radar," Hermione orders her flight. The four Flankers descend to 6,000 feet, and each of the pilots power up their Archers, while keeping their eyes outside the cockpit, searching for any targets.

Hermione switches her eyes between her radar and scanning the skies outside the cockpit. She can just barely see lights from one of the pairs of F-16s just a few miles north ofher.

Suddenly, a voice breaks in on the radio, screaming in a Korean accent, "I've got a MiG on my tail! I've got a MiG on my tail!"

"Who is this? Where are you?"

"This is Kingfisher One. I'm three miles north of you, Lion 1!" the man screams.

"Lion 2, you're with me. Lion 3 and 4, maintain position!" Hermione orders before snapping her Flanker into a hard turn towards the pair of F-16s.

Hermione throttles up and streaks north. Soon enough, she sees both of the F-16s, turning as hard as they can, each with a MiG-21 on his tail.

"Lion 2, you take the right one. I'll take the left," Hermione orders as she bank slightly left. Lion 2 immediately turns slightly right. He is able to quickly gain a lock with one of his Archers and fires, bringing down the MiG.

"He's down. Colonel, I think I see another MiG about a click east of us. I'm pursuing. You good?" Lion 2 calls out.

"Go. I can handle this joker," Hermione responds as she is trying to gain a missile lock. Lion 2 quickly banks right to pursue the MiG he's spotted.

Hermione continues pursuing the MiG behind Kingfisher One. Finally, she manages to gain a missile lock. She quickly pulls the trigger and fires an Archer. The missile streaks out towards the MiG. The pilot quickly deploys flares. The Archer hesitates for a moment, then turns after one of the flares.

Hermione curses. The Archer had been heavily upgraded, and carried a computer meant to distinguish flares from an engine. They were not easily fooled by flares.

Hermione slowly closes the distance, pulling a tighter turn. She maintains the missile lock, and soon fires another Archer. This one tracks straight to the target, detonating and blowing the tail off the MiG.

"Thanks, Colonel," Kingfisher One calls out.

"Don't mention it," she responds.

"Colonel, you might want to get over here. We're just south of you," Lion 3 calls.

Hermione turns towards the west. As she streaks west, pulling up slightly, she suddenly sees an amazing sight.

Just a mile up ahead, Lion 3 and 4, the four Flankers of Archer flight, and 7 of the F-16s are mixing it up with 22 MiGs in a massive furball.

Hermione continues just flying straight, taking a few moments to take in the sight of the massive furball ahead of her. Then, her face grows hard, and she advances the throttles into afterburner.

Hermione speeds into furball, immediately spotting a MiG-29 crossing across her nose. She pops her speed brakes and turns after the MiG. Despite turning as hard as she can, she finds herself in a lag pursuit position behind the MiG.

Hermione hurries to try and get a missile lock. The Archer has an off-boresight lock capability, but Hermione finds herself unable to get a firm lock. For nearly 15 seconds, Hermione continues pursuing the Fulcrum, trying to get a missile lock. She begins to hear the growl of the lock tone in her helmet, but not loud enough to indicate the missile has a firm lock.

Then, the MiG pilot makes a critical mistake. Perhaps hoping to confuse Hermione and lose her, he suddenly reverses his turn. It only half works. While Hermione is slightly caught off guard, the MiG reversing its turn briefly gives her an amazing tone with her Archer. She triggers the missile, which rapidly closes the distance to the Fulcrum and hits at the base of the tail, taking it off.

Hermione immediately snaps into a Split S, knowing that with so many MiGs around, she has to keep moving.

As she levels off, she spots another MiG-29 pursuing Lion 4. She immediately banks left in pursuit. At this point, she only has one Archer left, and her radar-guided Adders are less effective at such close ranges.

As she works to gain a missile lock, out of habit, she glances back to check her six, and to her surprise, sees a MiG-21 closing in on her tail.

Hermione immediately snaps into a hard right turn, hoping to evade the MiG. However, the MiG pilot is not about to give up on bagging an Su-30, and follows her.

The MiG manages to get a firing angle, firing its cannon wildly at Hermione. Hermione growls as she barrel rolls to avoid the rounds.

Quickly developing a plan, Hermione snaps the Flanker up into a 90 degree climb and advances the throttles into full afterburner. The Flanker rockets upwards, and a moment later the MiG pulls up after Hermione.

The two fighters streak up into the air, the MiG just behind Hermione. However, in this kind of fight, the Flanker has an advantage, being capable of climbing far longer than the MiG. It doesn't take long before the MiG is on the verge of stall speed, and the pilot abandons the chase, pulling his MiG over and diving back towards the ground to regain speed.

Hermione continues her climb for several more seconds before levelling her Flanker. She extends west for about two miles to regain airspeed before turning back around to re-enter the fight. As she speeds towards the furball, she spots a MiG-21 coming towards her. She says, "Victor, lock up that Fishbed."

Victor tries to gain lock, but the MiG is closing too fast. Realizing she won't get a missile lock in time, she arms her 30mm cannon and tries to get a good shot. She fires off a few rounds, but they miss. She then pulls up slightly to avoid crashing into the MiG. A few seconds later, she pulls hard on the throttle and starts turning after the MiG.

Suddenly, a voice breaks in over the radio. "Mayday! Mayday! This is Archer 2! I'm hit! I'm going down!"

Hermione's blood chills. Archer flight was the second flight of Flankers engaged in the furball. And Archer 2 is flown by a pilot Hermione has known for several years now and is good friends with. Scanning the sky, she sees one of the Su-30s going down in flames, and looks just in time to see the pilot and backseater eject. As they do, a MiG-29, the culprit, shoots past the wreckage.

Fury engulfs Hermione. She hasn't lost a squadron-mate so far in the war. And she has trained and flown alongside these people for years. Now, she forgets about the MiG-21 that just flew past her and throttles up, streaking after the MiG-29 that just shot down her squadron-mate, determined to get revenge.

The MiG spots her as she streaks towards him and breaks hard left. Hermione snaps her fighter to the left as well, and works to gain a missile lock.

For nearly 20 seconds, the two fighters are engaged in a fierce turning fight. Hermione finally manages to get a good lock, and fires her last Archer. However, the Fulcrum punches out flares while turning as hard as he can force his fighter to turn. The Archer is not fooled by the flares, but the Fulcrum's turn manages to defeat the missile lock, and the Archer streaks past him.

Hermione growls, advancing the throttles a bit and closing on the MiG, while flipping the armament switch for her cannon. Finally, she manages to get within range of the Fulcrum, closing to a distance of 1,200 feet. She manages to center the Fulcrum in her gunsight, and pulls the trigger. Her 30 mm cannon springs to life, hurling 90 rounds of ammunition into the Fulcrum's flight path. The rounds hit all along the length of the fighter, with several hitting in the right wing root. A few seconds later, one of the engines catches fire, and the right wing breaks away from the aircraft. The Fulcrum spins down out of the sky, trailing flames and fuel behind it. The pilot never ejects.

Hermione pulls up into a climb, then looks behind her. The dogfight is over. The 9 remaining MiGs are retreating on full afterburner. A quick scan reveals that both Lion 3 and 4 are okay, as is the rest of Archer flight. However, of the 7 F-16s that were present at the start of the dogfight, she can only see 5.

"All Free Forces aircraft. Return to base," Hermione calls over the radio.

The remaining Free Forces aircraft all form up and head south towards their airfield near Pyongyang. Hermione reviews over the cost of the mission. One F-16 was shot down by a SAM, and one Su-30 and two F-16s were lost in the furball. However, the Allied fighters had in turn claimed a total of 18 MiGs, 13 of which were downed in the huge furball. Of those 18, Hermione shot down 3, bringing her kill count so far to 13.

The Free Forces continue their air assaults in the northern part of Korea for another month. And the air battles continue. It is not until New Years Day that the final Slytherin units are driven out of North Korea, and the air action comes to an end.

While not as extensive as during the Korean War, the air action in MiG Alley was the fiercest of the war so far, and had seen the biggest dogfight fought in decades. By New Years Day, the Allies had shot down 87 MiGs in MiG Alley, while losing 20 of their own fighters. Free Forces commanders were feeling very confident in the Air Force's ability to deal with the Slytherin Air Force. The loss of so many MiGs had left the Slytherin Air Force without many air superiority fighters in the area. With this new weakness among the Slytherins, the Free Forces were ready to move ahead with the invasion of China.

* * *

 **And, I'll end there. I hope you all liked this chapter.**

 **Quickly, to address a term you may not be familiar with. The term "off-boresight shot" refers to the ability to attack targets not directly in front of it. In the case of the AA-11 Archer, the missile is capable of locking onto and hitting a target angled up to 60 degrees off its nose.**

 **Alright. Next chapter should be up within a week or two, hopefully. Most likely, it'll feature the battle for Beijing. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned.**


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